HR: 0830h
AN: SP21A-10    [Abstracts]
TI: TRACE and SOHO/MDI Observations of Five X-Flares from AR10720, the "Fireworks Active Region", on January 15-20, 2005
AU: * Nightingale, R W
EM: nightingale@lmsal.com
AF: Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Orgn/AD-BS, Bldg/252 3251 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1121 United States
AU: Frank, Z A
EM: zoe@lmsal.com
AF: Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Orgn/AD-BS, Bldg/252 3251 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1121 United States
AU: Metcalf, T R
EM: metcalf@lmsal.com
AF: Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Orgn/AD-BS, Bldg/252 3251 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1121 United States
AU: Kang, C A
EM: kang@lmsal.com
AF: Henry M. Gunn High School, 780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306 United States
AB: Both TRACE and SOHO/MDI observed the five X-flares that were produced by AR10720 during January 15-20, 2005. This active region appears to be "special" because it is occurring so late in the solar cycle, about two-thirds of the way toward solar minimum. Also its structure is initially one large penumbral region with several umbral spots that are being stretched out east to west with rotating sunspots emerging in leading and trailing positions during the transit across the solar disk, similar to fireworks with pin-wheels attached. With a neutral line running almost east-west in between two of the stretched umbral regions and with opposite magnetic polarities on both sides of the neutral line adjacent to each other, the beta-delta region starts the "fireworks" with the first X-flare on January 15, continuing every one to one and one-half days over the next five days. Images and movies will be shown of these eruptive events in white light and 1600A from TRACE, and as magnetograms from MDI. Two of the three rotating sunspots also change their direction of rotation during this period. These X-flares add to those observed by TRACE since its launch in April 1998, all of which have been associated with rotating sunspots in the associated active regions. These X-flares consist of over half of the X-flares observed by GOES since April 1998 and many are associated with geo-effective CMEs in the form of solar energetic particle events. Rotating sunspots may be a good predictor of solar eruptions. This work has been supported by NASA, in part under the TRACE project at LMSAL (contract NAS5-38099) and in part under the MDI/SOHO project (NAG5-13261).
DE: 7509 Corona
DE: 7513 Coronal mass ejections
DE: 7519 Flares
DE: 7524 Magnetic fields
DE: 7529 Photosphere
SC: Solar Physics Division - AAS [SP]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly