Solar coronal mass ejections and flares
Abstract
Recent work has indicated that a solar coronal mass ejection begins to rise during a weak, soft X-ray burst which often precedes a flare by several tens of minutes. Using data from the Coronagraph/Polarimeter and the Hard X-ray Imaging Spectrometer, both on board the Solar Maximum Mission, it is shown that the burst originates from a coronal arch which has a very close spatial relationship to the loop-like features of the coronal mass ejection. The data suggest, in fact, that the ejection arises directly from a destabilization or lack of equilibrium reached by the arch. For the three examples discussed, with both X-ray and coronagraph observations, a subsequent flare occurs in one foot of the arch indicating a flare-ejection asymmetry. This asymmetry is common in examples of flare associated coronal mass ejections that can be found in the literature. The data suggest a picture which is inconsistent with most models of the mass ejection phenomenon.
- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- July 1986
- Bibcode:
- 1986A&A...162..283H
- Keywords:
-
- Solar Corona;
- Solar Flares;
- Stellar Mass Ejection;
- X Ray Astronomy;
- Asymmetry;
- Coronagraphs;
- Solar Maximum Mission;
- Solar X-Rays;
- Solar Physics