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Science Danish physicists find solar flares produce starquakes
Science Danish physicists find solar flares produce starquakes | Danish physicists find solar flares produce starquakes |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Friday, 25 April 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 2 The discovery by the Danish physicists is a demonstration that large starquakes occur within the Sun in response to the explosion of solar flares above its surface. The theory of solar flares producing starquakes was first proposed in the early 1970s. Thus, their findings, the first of its kind, may very likely provide new information on the activity going on in the interior of other stars, along with Sun. So important is their discovery is that they are now attempting to understand the mechanism that causes solar flares to excite (produce) these global oscillations over the Sun. Karoff states, “We are not completely sure how the solar flares excite the global oscillations." [Space Daily] Karoff believes that further research on other stars should show similar phenomena with what occurs on the Sun. The two physicists are currently using ground-based telescopes to look at stars similar to the Sun. In the future they will also use other space-based telescopes for additional analysis. The scientists are also analyzing several flares from the Sun in order to develop a model on how the energy from solar flares is transferred into sunquakes. Another important consequence of their research is the ability to predict solar flares more precisely. Solar flares are dangerous to astronauts living and working in space because of the large amount of high-energy radiation contained within them. They also adversely affect electronic equipment, power plants and other facilities, both in space and here on Earth. In fact, a Georgetown University study has recently turned up evidence that space radiation, such as from solar flares, could likely cause increased risk of cancer in astronauts. Itwire writes about this subject in “Space radiation may cause cancer in astronauts.” Although sometimes it is difficult for people to understand what benefit there is to space exploration and why scientists try to understand things that happen on stars, planets, and other such bodies, such research is almost always able to be applied to our lives here on Earth. Phenomenon such as solar flares on the Sun, and other flares on other stars, could some day help us predict when solar flares occur so we can better protect are vital communications satellites orbiting about the Earth, to protect our very necessary power-generating plants on Earth, and to make our own planet a safer place to live. NASA has produced images of solar flares on the Sun. Please go to SOHO Hotshot for these images.
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