What is CME?
CME or Coronal Mass Ejection, can be understood as the Sun's way of getting rid of plasma and coronal matter in no less than billions of tons in mass along with a strong magnetic field from the Sun's Corona.
Have you looked at the images from the space telescopes, those loops around the Sun? They reach a peak and when it gets too much the Sun lets them go with huge amounts of matter getting released. That is defined as a CME.
What about Solar winds?
These can be understood as a constant breeze but made up of energized particles mostly protons and electrons. They are given into space from the Sun's upper atmosphere and are different from CME. These winds are responsible for the Geomagnetic Storms, which in turn are responsible for the non-working of power grids and satellites.
What are Solar Flares?
The release of intense electromagnetic radiation across a broad spectrum, from radio waves to X-rays, this is what a Solar Flare is.
Types of Solar Flares
Solar Flares are categorized based on their intensity, the most powerful are X-class flares, followed by M-, C- and B-class; A-class flares are the smallest.
The way we observe them is to observe the Sun, these Flares appear as bright spots on the Sun's surface, hence you can understand why they were named as "Flares".
These outbursts are intrinsically linked to the solar cycle, an approximately 11-year cycle of solar activity driven by the sun's magnetic field.
Fun Fact!
Did you know Solar Flares tend to originate from the region of the solar surface that contains sunspots? These spots are the regions of strong magnetic fields.
Are you confused?
If by this time you are not confused you should be! No seriously, I have just given the same kind of definition to all three events and have made it out that all of them are distinct events. They are but how?
To understand this analogy let us use a bit of Imagination!!
Remember how your primary teachers have told you about the Sun being a Giant Ball of Fire. Instead, We consider it to be a big firecracker. A Solar Flare is like a firecracker that went off with an intense explosion, while a Solar Wind can be thought of as sparks flying from the firecracker but constantly.
Simple right? While this analogy works for Flares and Winds what about CME, CME are just a very mild firecracker.
Did you know?
When Solar winds reach the Earth, they send a stream of charged particles which when interacting with the magnetosphere of Earth and its field lines send these charges towards the poles leading to the Aurora Borealis, commonly known as the "Northern Lights".
The Solar Cycle
While the Sun is constantly supplying us with heat and energy, just like our earth's season cycle sun has one of its own. In our case the weather on Earth Changes from Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, while in the case of the Sun, the polarity of the field lines changes every 11 years or so. The North becomes the South and vice versa.
Why is this important, you might be tempted to ask that and here I present you with a sound reason. When the Polarity of the field changes on the Sun, it changes the Direction of the Magnetic Field which leads to the change in the number of Sun Spots on the surface of the Sun.
The beginning of a solar cycle is a solar minimum, or when the Sun has the least sunspots. Over time, solar activity and the number of sunspots increase. The middle of the solar cycle is the solar maximum, or when the Sun has the most sunspots. As the cycle ends, it fades back to the solar minimum and then a new cycle begins.
It is interesting to note that each cycle is quite different from the previous cycles as the amount of Solar Activity on the Sun is different, while one cycle can be very drastic the other might be toned done significantly.
Solar activity is on the rise as we experience solar cycle 25. Solar maximum is predicted to occur in 2025. While another Study by IISER Kolkata says it might happen in 2024. (to know more click here)
Why is it important though?
Prediction of Solar Activity allows us to prepare for Geomagnetic Storms, over-radiation exposure for astronauts, protecting of Satellites, etc. It provides us with the ability to even save our Devices. Our technology is heavily affected by the change in the magnetic field and these Solar emissions can affect our technology with ease destroying the power grids and costing us many many amounts of Rupees or Dollars (Whichever Currency you prefer :) ).
Conclusion
The Study of the Sun is of extreme importance for us Humans as it is the nearest Star and the biggest source of energy if and when we are technologically advanced enough to harness it with more than 90% efficiency. We should also be capable enough to predict the changes present with the Solar cycle, to protect our astronauts, satellites and devices from the abrupt Solar activities. I hope the blog allowed you to understand the difference between Solar Flare, Wind and CMEs while also learning something new. If you are still reading and have reached this point, Thank You!
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