Georgoulis, M. K., Rust, D. M., Bernasconi, P. N., and Schmieder, B., "Statistics, morphology, and energetics of Ellerman bombs," ApJ 575, 506 (2002).

Click on the image above for a larger version.

Ellerman bombs (a phenomenon rediscovered several times, most colorfully as Severny's "moustaches") might not belong in a flare/CME cartoon archive. But they are certainly related, if only in that people appeal to the all-powerful magnetic reconnection as a source of cartoon descriptions. This one is from a set of three proposed by Manolis Georgoulis and collaborators.

What is an Ellerman bomb? Who was Ellerman? These are questions important in the history of solar physics. The person, Ferdinand Ellerman, was a major collaborator of George Ellery Hale in solar observation and instrument development. His "Hydrogen Bombs" were not threatening - they were intense broad-line brightenings seen in hydrogen radiation (Hα to be specific) near sunspots.

Note that this cartoon refers to the (lower?) chromosphere, not to the corona. That is why it seems reasonable to have stresses that can drive fields together and make them reconnect.

July 3, 2006
April 19, 2007
August 8, 2008

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