High Resolution Spectra of Solar Flares

I discuss high-resolution solar flare spectra from the soft X-ray region through the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelength regions. Spectra of solar flares at these wavelengths have been recorded since the late 1960s, beginning primarily with the NASA Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO) series of spacecraft. Knowledge of EUV flare spectra took a quantum leap with the NASA Skylab Apollo Telescope Mount spectrographs in the early 1970s. Knowledge of the X-ray spectrum took a similar leap in the 1980s with the US Department of Defense P78-1 spacecraft, the NASA Solar Maximum Mission spacecraft (SMM), and the Japanese Hinotori spacecraft. Investigations of flare X-ray spectra continued with the BCS X-ray spectrometer experiment on the Japanese Yohkoh mission. Recently, EUV solar flare spectroscopy has been extended with the SUMER spectrometer on the ESA SOHO spacecraft. In addition to the above missions, significant contributions were made with instrumentation on a number of other spacecraft, e.g., the Soviet Intercosmos X-ray spectrometers. Our knowledge of the physical conditions in solar flares has been greatly expanded from analyses of X-ray and EUV flare spectra. I will discuss the general characteristics of the flare emission line and continuum spectra, and the physical processes that produce them. I will discuss what we have learned about solar flares from the spectra, and discuss solar flare spectra in terms of spectra expected from other astrophysical sources.