Speaker
Description
First Name: Adam
Last Name: Finley
Email Address: adam.finley.astro@gmail.com
Affiliation: ESA/ESTEC
All Authors: Adam J. Finley
Abstract: The repeated emergence of active regions in close proximity to one another creates long-lived sources of solar activity called active nests. These nests are thought to form due to non-axisymmetries in the generation and storage of the Sun's dynamo magnetic field which preferences flux emergence at certain Carrington longitudes. Nesting is also observed on other Sun-like stars, suggesting that this is a fundamental process related to the global dynamo. Our ability to study the evolution of solar active nests is limited by our view from Earth. With Solar Orbiter monitoring the Sun's far-side for several months each year, multi-viewpoint observations (akin to the STEREO-AB era) now provide a pathway to study the formation and evolution of active nests. An active nest in 2022 was shown to be a prolific flare factory, producing 50-70% of all solar flares over the entire solar surface for five months (in the nearly continuous monitoring window). The repeated emergence of active regions formed more complex regions (Hale classifications) with a higher occurrence rate of solar flares. Similarly, in 2024, the collision of two active nests built complexity and triggered a dramatic intensification of their flaring activity. Active region nesting also structures the solar corona which could be leveraged for long-term planning of solar wind connection science. In future, short to medium-term space weather forecasting will benefit from the improved identification and monitoring of active nests.