Abstract
Small, highly frequent flares are thought to contribute to heating the Sun’s atmosphere, particularly in active regions. This impulsive energy release would heat plasma >5 MK and accelerate electrons, producing weak thermal and non-thermal signatures that could be observed by a very sensitive X-ray telescope. No such solar telescope exists currently so we use the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), an astrophysical X-ray telescope, with focusing optics imaging spectroscopy providing a unique sensitivity for observing the Sun above 2.5 keV. In this seminar, I will present an overview of the discoveries from NuSTAR solar observations where decreasing solar activity between cycle 24 and 25 has allowed GOES sub-A class microflares to be observed regularly within, and small brightenings outside, active regions. In particular, I will describe several X-ray microflares from a recently emerged active region, AR12721, that were observed on 2018 September 9-10 with NuSTAR. In combination with SDO/AIA, I will discuss the temporal, spatial, and spectral evolution of these sub-A class microflares and show that temperatures up to 10 MK are reached. Using SDO/HMI, I also present evidence of photospheric magnetic flux cancellation/emergence at the footpoints in 8 NuSTAR microflares.
Recorded video
https://science-media.org/video/306