Research by university scientists suggests that solar flares may be far hotter than previously believed, offering new insights into the Sun ’s behavior.

The findings, recently published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters , indicate that ions within solar flares may reach temperatures more than 6.5 times higher than earlier estimates, according to researchers at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Solar flares are sudden, intense bursts of energy in the Sun’s outer atmosphere that heat surrounding plasma to more than 100 million degrees Fahrenheit.

Occasionally, these events can damage satellites, cause radio blackouts, disrupt power grids and create brilliant auroras visible from Earth.

Previous research had estimated temperatures at only around 18 million degrees Fahrenheit -

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