# superflare
## English
### Etymology

From super- +‎ flare.

### Pronunciation

* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

superflare (plural superflares)
* (astronomy) A very large-scale magnetic eruption in the atmosphere of a star, possibly qualitatively different from more common, lesser solar flares.
** 1962, Popular Science, Popular Science, Wernher von Braun articles 1962-1976‎, Macmillan and Company, Limited, page 58:A program to predict such flares has been initiated, and it is planned to time short trips (such as round trips to the moon) so that they won't coincide with the superflares.
** 1963, United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Branch, Astronautics and Aeronautics‎, United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Branch, page 45:At press conference, the NRL scientists said that astronauts on lunar flight would be under no more radiation danger during maximum period of solar cycle than during minimum period. Friedman explained : "All available evidence indicates that solar minimum is as bad as solar maximum for superflare eruption."
** 1964, United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Scientific and Technical Information Office, Scientific and Technical Information Branch, Astronautics and Aeronautics‎, Scientific and Technical Information Branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Publishing Office, page 45:At press conference, the nrl scientists said that astronauts on lunar flight would be under no more radiation danger during maximum period of solar cycle than during minimum period. Friedman explained : "All available evidence indicates that solar minimum is as bad as solar maximum for superflare eruption." To date, superflares occur at random and cannot be predicted.
** 1966, Llou Williams Page, Thornton Page, Astronomy and Astrophysics 1975-04: Volume 40, Issues 1-2‎, page 75:Despite its technical shortcomings, the Continuous Solar Movie provides a unique view of the sun’s activity during a particularly exciting period. World Data Center records indicate 29 major flares during the period, six of importance 3. Speeded up 960 times, the Lockheed scene of the great cosmic ray superflare on July 16 is a magnificent spectacle. Smaller flares and subflares are less conspicuous, but very numerous.
** 1975, Astronomy and Astrophysics 1975-04: Volume 40, Issue 1-2‎, page 123:Similar problems with the multiple bursts and the microstructure of several peaks of 60 ms duration are encountered by the model of Colgate (1974) in which the gamma ray burst is produced by the initial shockwave of a type II supernova breaking through a surface layer which is expanding with relativistic velocities. This model also predicts a correlation of gamma ray bursts with supernova events (not observed so far). The stellar superflares suggested by Stecker and Frost (1973) would, if one just scaled up typical solar flares, require about 10$^{10}$ times the energy of solar flares. The accompanying optical, microwave, and UV phenomena should be observable, but have not been seen.
** 1977, Ben Bova, Trudy E. Bell, Close: New Worlds‎, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 207:Enormous superflares begin to blast out from the heart of the nebula, the central region that is on its way to becoming a star, our Sun. These titanic flares release huge amounts of energy inside the nebula, which serves to ionize more of the gas, make it more of a plasma, increase the electrical conductivity of the nebula, and convert rotational energy into radiation, charged particles, and heat.

### See also

* coronal hole
* coronal mass ejection
* solar filament
* solar flare
* solar prominence