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Second Place Natural

Flare on a Diamond Ring

The 2024 total solar eclipse coincided with a maximum of sunspots and solar flares in an 11-year cycle that will end with the magnetic poles of the Sun reversing. During the eclipse, I photographed a giant solar flare. Solar flares are intense explosions of radiation caused by the release of energy in "twisted" magnetic fields often associated with sunspots. Flares are the largest bursts and explosive events within our solar system and can last a few minutes to hours. Usually, people see solar flares as a result of the light (photons) it releases, which impacts almost every wavelength of the light spectrum. Flares are also where particles such as protons, electrons, and heavy ions are heated and accelerated to enormous speeds. This picture was taken as the total eclipse ended and the moon revealed the edge of the Sun, resulting in a phenomenon called the 'diamond ring'. Knowing that the Sun is 109 times the diameter of Earth, I used proportions to determine that the flare visible in the photo is about 8 Earths long!