New Telescope Captures First Ever High-Resolution Images of Solar Flux Ropes

Space weather can impact conditions not only in space, but also on Earth. Now, a new telescope has captured the first high-resolution images of the flaring magnetic structure, known as solar flux ropes, at their point of origin in the sun's chromosphere, which could provide new insights into the eruptions responsible for space weather.

Flux ropes are bundles of magnetic fields that rotate and twist around a common axis, driven by motions in the photosphere, a high-density layer of the sun's atmosphere below the solar corona and chromosphere.

"These twisting magnetic loops have been much studied in the sun's corona, or outer layer, but these are the first high-resolution images of their origination in the chromosphere below it," said Haimin Wang, the lead author of the new study, in a news release. "For the first time, we can see their twisting motion in great detail and watch how it evolves."

In the latest research, the scientists strung together a series of images that trace the formation of an S-shaped bundle of magnetic fields from which a set of loops peel off and grow upward into a multi-strand flux rope within a few minutes. Two flare ribbons appear at the two sides of the rising flux rope.

"We have been looking for eruption twisted solar flux ropes in the chromosphere, but observations of these eruptions under excellent conditions are very rare," said Wang. "One of the exciting things about these new images is that we can now distinguish between mild twists and those severe enough to cause space weather."

Currently, the researchers are developing tools to predict space weather from solar observations and modelling. This could be huge when it comes to space weather forecasts and could give satellites a "heads up" to get out of the way before  coronal mass ejections (CME) blast past them.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.

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