Solar flare seen by EUI and STIX

Solar Orbiter observed this solar flare on 11 November 2022 with its Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) and Spectrometer/Telescope for Imaging X-rays (STIX) instruments.

The EUI footage (yellow) shows million-degree gas in the Sun’s atmosphere. A narrow ejection of gas from the flare called a solar jet, can be clearly seen heading towards the bottom right of the image.

Solar flares release electrons both outwards into space and inwards towards the Sun’s surface. When they hit the Sun’s surface, they generate X-rays. This X-ray emission, recorded by STIX, is overlaid in blue.

Some of the electrons the flare sent outwards into space were picked up by Solar Orbiter. Read more about how Solar Orbiter traced these superfast electrons back to solar flares on the Sun.

The new research is published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics, as part of a public catalogue of Solar Energetic Electron events observed by Solar Orbiter.

[Image description: A tiny patch of the Sun showing a solar flare seen by Solar Orbiter's SXI and EUI instruments on 11 November 2022.]