ESA Science & Technology - X-ray flare sparks quake inside Sun

Publication date: 29 May 1998

Authors: Kosovichev, A.G., & Zharkova, V. V.

Journal: Nature
Volume: 393
Issue: 6683
Page: 317
Year: 1998

Copyright: Nature Publshing Group

Solar flares involve a release of the Suns magnetic energy as X-radiation, particle beams and high-speed plasma flows. But we have discovered, using data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), that these flares also affect the Suns interior, generating seismic waves similar to earthquakes. For example, a three-kilometre-high seismic wave was caused by a moderate X-ray flare that occurred on 9 July 1996 and propagated at about 50 kilometres per second to a distance 120 000 kilometres from the flare site.