Click on the image above for a larger .gif version.

As cartoons go, this one is extremely pedestrian: it is monochrome and 2D, and does not dare venture beyond the warm security of the CSHKP standard model.

The paper itself reports interesting observations made possible by the high resolution of AIA, and it also makes laudable use of the STEREO data for a 3D view. Alas, this does not propagate to the 2D cartoon! The 3D view clearly shows the prominence eruption to proceed highly non-radially, in total contradiction to the 2D viewpoint of the standard model. Nevertheless, these observations certainly do strengthen the case for a reconnecting current sheet following the flare eruption. The global view given by this event, however, lends no support for the standard model for several reasons, in terms of flare causation. In particular the current sheet appears to form well after the impulsive flare energy release, and the straightforward interpretation of the phenomena is that they are driven by the flows created then, rather than inducing them.

February 24, 2012