AS THE Sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle of solar activity, the
Earth’s atmosphere will be buffeted almost daily by jets of solar material,
which can damage satellites, endanger astronauts and disrupt power grids. There
are a number of different theories to explain these violent eruptions, but last
week in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, the American Astronomical Society’s solar physics
division meeting heard how one of the most detailed observations to date of a
solar flare supports the so-called “pressure cooker” model, in which energy and
gas spew from the Sun like overheated water.
In the pressure cooker model,…
