NASA | Fermi Detects Gamma Rays from a Solar Flare

During a powerful solar blast in March, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected the highest-energy light ever associated with an eruption on the sun. The discovery heralds Fermi's new role as a solar observatory, a powerful new tool for understanding solar outbursts during the sun's maximum period of activity.
"For most of Fermi's four years in orbit, its Large Area Telescope (LAT) saw the sun as a faint, steady gamma-ray source thanks to the impacts of high-speed particles called cosmic rays," said Nicola Omodei, an astrophysicist at Stanford University in California. "Now we're beginning to see what the sun itself can do."

A solar flare is an explosive blast of light and charged particles. The powerful March 7 flare, which earned a classification of X5.4 based on the peak intensity of its X-rays, is the strongest eruption so far observed by Fermi's LAT. The flare produced such an outpouring of gamma rays -- a form of light with even greater energy than X-rays -- that the sun briefly became the brightest object in the gamma-ray sky.

At the flare's peak, the LAT detected gamma rays with two billion times the energy of visible light, or about 4 billion electron volts (GeV), easily setting a record for the highest-energy light ever detected during or just after a solar flare. The flux of high-energy gamma rays, defined as those with energies beyond 100 million electron volts (MeV), was 1,000 times greater than the sun's steady output.
The March 7 flare also is notable for the persistence of its gamma-ray emission. Fermi's LAT detected high-energy gamma rays for about 20 hours, two and a half times longer than any event on record.

Additionally, the event marks the first time a greater-than-100-MeV gamma-ray source has been localized to the sun's disk, thanks to the LAT's keen angular resolution.

Flares and other eruptive solar events produce gamma rays by accelerating charged particles, which then collide with matter in the sun's atmosphere and visible surface. For instance, interactions among protons result in short-lived subatomic particles called pions, which produce high-energy gamma rays when they decay. Nuclei excited by collisions with lower-energy ions give off characteristic gamma rays as they settle down. Accelerated electrons emit gamma rays as they collide with protons and atomic nuclei.

Solar eruptions are now on the rise as the sun progresses toward the peak of its roughly 11-year-long activity cycle, now expected in mid-2013.

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[Signal]

Nasaexplorer is the best yoube chanel. Im so happy i found it last week.

[gingermeeder]

I love Nasa, thank-you for continuing to reach new horizons through research and entertaining many, many curious.minds such as.mine...peace

[Anonymoose]

Fascinating, and a superb "trial by fire" for Fermi.

[AntifoulAwl]

That beeping sputnik at the end always does it for me

[TheRameshist]

This is amazing and at the same time reminds us of the blind dangerous mechanisms of this chaotic universe we are all living in. thank's to NASA's solar observatory.

[nightwalkerscrypt]

you must construct additional pions

[monsterhunter]

I am not saying that there is multiple universes. But it is a possibility. I mean it is not like scientist are able to see past the big bang. So why not?

[thecrimsonfloyd]

No, as it approaches it's solar maximum that happens once every few years. Pay attention.

[Aidax]

Woah that's strange but fascinating we need to get some protection for our planet if something bad happens

[Carrow]

This is the point in my night where I am thinking about space and my head hurts

[TooDamPro]

I understand that, but you are saying we can just migrate to another universe when we can rarely go to the moon. Just a small handful of people can go, and you expect the whole human race to survive by "migrating" to another universe. It is impractical.

[belindaleoni]

March 2013 at about 7 pm in a national park we seen 7 or more large red balls travelling fast in outer space about the 1/2 size of stars and smaller, south to north in southern Australia, two of the balls hit and there was a bright flash from horizon to horizon for 2 seconds that took the whole sky, blinding white light. This was a gamma ray burst of energy from the two red balls "meteorites" that hit, thus causing ozone gasses to react and flash white for two seconds. This is the energy detected. Belinda Leoni

[TooDamPro]

Yup, the Magnetosphere. Helps protect us from CMEs.

[monsterhunter]

Technically no, we can continue to prosper. Even if the Universe cools down at absolute zero or zero Kelvin. We can still migrate to another universe if it exists. If humans can move and live on another planet then we can hop to another universe. Unless there is only one universe. But if they are many universes what will the many universes be called? Thinking hurts!

[olegen]

And what?..Why you are silent so long time?

[fermibubbles]

even the all powerful fermi space telescope can't see to the bottom of a sunspot.. i wonder y?

[SchuperNaturalistic]

:), dun worry everything spectacular in nature doesnt have anything todo with the earth ending

[essentialelement]

This is awesome.. The sun is beautiful.. I love Sun Gazing!

[olegen]

Ну и что?..Почему так поздно сообщаете?

[DepressedLemur]

I'm suggesting a giant condom as our best solution, but sadly everyone thinks i'm nuts.