The Neupert effect refers to an empirical tendency for high-energy ('hard') X-ray emission to coincide temporally with the rate of rise of lower-energy ('soft') X-ray emission of a solar flare. [1] Here 'hard' and 'soft' mean above and below an energy of about 10 keV to solar physicists, though in non-solar X-ray astronomy one typically sets this boundary at a lower energy.
This effect gets its name from NASA solar physicist and spectroscopist Werner Neupert, who first documented a related correlation (the integral form) between microwave (gyrosynchrotron) and soft X-ray emissions in 1968. [2] The standard interpretation is that the accumulated energy injection associated with the acceleration of non-thermal electrons (which produce the hard X-rays via non-thermal bremsstrahlung) release energy in the lower solar atmosphere (the chromosphere); this energy then leads to thermal (soft X-ray) emission as the chromospheric plasma heats and expands into the corona. [1] The effect is very common, but does not represent an exact relationship and is not observed in all solar flares. [3]
A corona is an aura of plasma that surrounds the Sun and other stars. The Sun's corona extends millions of kilometres into outer space and is most easily seen during a total solar eclipse, but it is also observable with a coronagraph.
X-ray astronomy is an observational branch of astronomy which deals with the study of X-ray observation and detection from astronomical objects. X-radiation is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, so instruments to detect X-rays must be taken to high altitude by balloons, sounding rockets, and satellites. X-ray astronomy is the space science related to a type of space telescope that can see farther than standard light-absorption telescopes, such as the Mauna Kea Observatories, via x-ray radiation.
In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are extremely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the brightest electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe. Bursts can last from ten milliseconds to several hours. After an initial flash of gamma rays, a longer-lived "afterglow" is usually emitted at longer wavelengths.
A solar flare is a sudden flash of increased brightness on the Sun, usually observed near its surface and in close proximity to a sunspot group. Powerful flares are often, but not always, accompanied by a coronal mass ejection. Even the most powerful flares are barely detectable in the total solar irradiance.
Cygnus X-1 (abbreviated Cyg X-1) is a galactic X-ray source in the constellation Cygnus, and the first such source widely accepted to be a black hole. It was discovered in 1964 during a rocket flight and is one of the strongest X-ray sources seen from Earth, producing a peak X-ray flux density of 2.3×10−23 Wm−2 Hz−1 (2.3×103 Jansky). It remains among the most studied astronomical objects in its class. The compact object is now estimated to have a mass about 14.8 times the mass of the Sun and has been shown to be too small to be any known kind of normal star, or other likely object besides a black hole. If so, the radius of its event horizon has 300 km "as upper bound to the linear dimension of the source region" of occasional X-ray bursts lasting only for about 1 ms.
Ross 154 is a star in the southern zodiac constellation of Sagittarius. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 10.44, making it much too faint to be seen with the naked eye. At a minimum, viewing Ross 154 requires a telescope with an aperture of 6.5 cm (3 in) under ideal conditions. The distance to this star can be estimated from parallax measurements, which places it at 9.69 light-years away from Earth. It is the nearest star in the southern constellation Sagittarius, and one of the nearest stars to the Sun.
Messier 87 is a supergiant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo. One of the most massive galaxies in the local universe, it has a large population of globular clusters—about 12,000 compared with the 150–200 orbiting the Milky Way—and a jet of energetic plasma that originates at the core and extends at least 1,500 parsecs, traveling at a relativistic speed. It is one of the brightest radio sources in the sky and a popular target for both amateur and professional astronomers.
A flare star is a variable star that can undergo unpredictable dramatic increases in brightness for a few minutes. It is believed that the flares on flare stars are analogous to solar flares in that they are due to the magnetic energy stored in the stars' atmospheres. The brightness increase is across the spectrum, from X rays to radio waves. The first known flare stars were discovered in 1924. However, the best-known flare star is UV Ceti, first observed to flare in 1948. Today similar flare stars are classified as UV Ceti type variable stars in variable star catalogs such as the General Catalogue of Variable Stars.
AD Leonis is a red dwarf star. It is located relatively near the Sun, at a distance of about 16 light years, in the constellation Leo. AD Leonis is a main sequence star with a spectral classification of M3.5V. It is a flare star that undergoes random increases in luminosity.
An ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) is an astronomical source of X-rays that is less luminous than an active galactic nucleus but is more consistently luminous than any known stellar process (over 1039 erg/s, or 1032 watts), assuming that it radiates isotropically (the same in all directions). Typically there is about one ULX per galaxy in galaxies which host them, but some galaxies contain many. The Milky Way has not been shown to contain a ULX. The main interest in ULXs stems from their luminosity exceeding the Eddington luminosity of neutron stars and even stellar black holes. It is not known what powers ULXs; models include beamed emission of stellar mass objects, accreting intermediate-mass black holes, and super-Eddington emission.
IC 443 is a galactic supernova remnant (SNR) in the constellation Gemini. On the plane of the sky, it is located near the star Eta Geminorum. Its distance is roughly 5,000 light years from Earth.
![Gamma-ray burst progenitors Types of celestial obects that can emit [[gamma-ray bursts]]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/EtaCarinae.jpg/320px-EtaCarinae.jpg)
Gamma-ray burst progenitors are the types of celestial objects that can emit gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). GRBs show an extraordinary degree of diversity. They can last anywhere from a fraction of a second to many minutes. Bursts could have a single profile or oscillate wildly up and down in intensity, and their spectra are highly variable unlike other objects in space. The near complete lack of observational constraint led to a profusion of theories, including evaporating black holes, magnetic flares on white dwarfs, accretion of matter onto neutron stars, antimatter accretion, supernovae, hypernovae, and rapid extraction of rotational energy from supermassive black holes, among others.
II Pegasi is a binary star system in the constellation of Pegasus with an apparent magnitude of 7.4 and a distance of 130 light years. It is a very active RS Canum Venaticorum variable, a close binary system with active starspots.
Gamma-ray astronomy is the astronomical observation of gamma rays, the most energetic form of electromagnetic radiation, with photon energies above 100 keV. Radiation below 100 keV is classified as X-rays and is the subject of X-ray astronomy.
Astrophysical X-ray sources are astronomical objects with physical properties which result in the emission of X-rays.
A nanoflare is a very small episodic heating event which happens in the corona, the external atmosphere of the Sun.
YZ Canis Minoris is a red-hued star in the equatorial constellation of Canis Minor. With an apparent visual magnitude of 11.15, it is much too faint to be viewed with the naked eye. The distance to YZ CMi can be estimated from its annual parallax shift of 167.02 mas, yielding a value of 19.5 light years. Presently the star is moving further away with a heliocentric radial velocity of +26.5 km/s. It made its closest approach some 162,000 years ago when it made perihelion passage at a distance of 10.2 ly. YZ CMi is a potential member of the Beta Pictoris moving group.
A tidal disruption event is an astronomical phenomenon that occurs when a star approaches sufficiently close to a supermassive black hole that it is pulled apart by the black hole's tidal force, experiencing spaghettification. A portion of the star's mass can be captured into an accretion disk around the black hole, resulting in a temporary flare of electromagnetic radiation as matter in the disk is consumed by the black hole.
Supra-arcade downflows (SADs) are sunward-traveling plasma voids that are sometimes observed in the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, during solar flares. In solar physics, an “arcade” refers to a bundle of coronal loops, and the prefix “supra” indicates that the downflows appear above flare arcades. They were first described in 1999 using the Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) on board the Yohkoh satellite. SADs are byproducts of the magnetic reconnection process that drives solar flares, but their precise cause remains unknown.
Katharine Reeves is an astronomer who works at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).
 | This astronomy-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
