Observations of an Eruptive Solar Flare in the Extended EUV Solar Corona

TL;DR

This paper reports on detailed observations of a major solar eruption and flare, highlighting the detection of a current sheet, an extreme-ultraviolet wave, and the acceleration of a coronal mass ejection using the GOES-16 SUVI instrument.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the structure and dynamics of solar eruptions at large heights, utilizing SUVI's wide field of view to observe phenomena up to 2 solar radii.

Findings

Detection of a current sheet associated with magnetic reconnection

Observation of an extreme-ultraviolet wave at unprecedented heights

Measurement of the CME acceleration to approximately 2000 km/s at 1.5 solar radii

Abstract

We present observations of a powerful solar eruption, accompanied by an X8.2 solar flare, from NOAA Active Region 12673 on 2017 September 10 by the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) on the GOES-16 spacecraft. SUVI is noteworthy for its relatively large field of view, which allows it to image solar phenomena to heights approaching 2 solar radii. These observations include the detection of an apparent current sheet associated with magnetic reconnection in the wake of the eruption and evidence of an extreme-ultraviolet wave at some of the largest heights ever reported. We discuss the acceleration of the nascent coronal mass ejection to approximately 2000 km/s at about 1.5 solar radii. We compare these observations with models of eruptions and eruption-related phenomena. We also describe the SUVI data and discuss how the scientific community can access SUVI observations of the event.