1. SOLAR FLARES AND ERUPTIONS Lyndsay Fletcher University of Glasgow

2. Sunspots - hotbeds of solar activity

3. Solar minimum, solar maximum

4. An active region seen by Hinode

5. Winding up the magnetic field Gas at the solar equator has a higher speed than that at the poles. This ‘winds up’ the magnetic field - like stretching a rubber band

6. Magnetic Loops

7. Twisted loops images:TRACE/NASA

8. A Solar Flare An explosion in the Sun’s corona cause by magnetic energy build-up

9. Start of a coronal mass ejection A billion tonnes of ionised gas, moving at a million kilometers per hour

10. Coronal mass ejections seen by SOHO

11. During solar maximum, the Sun produces about 3 big mass ejections per day Coronal mass ejections seen by SOHO

12. How do flares and eruptions affect Earth? We live inside the atmosphere of a star!