Researchers at Purdue’s radiation laboratory said they are able to predict solar flares – sudden outbursts of electromagnetic radiation and particles from the sun that travel at the speed of light into space’s atmosphere – nearly a day in advance.
Jere Jenkins, director of the laboratory, and his team began using detection devices to study the decay rates of magnesium-54 during solar flares. The graph of December 2011’s decay rates showed the data departing from the line of expectancy before the flare occurred – this data is how the researchers found out they could predict a solar storm.
