Solar Particle Events

A solar particle event is the injection of high-energy particles into space during a solar flare. These events become particularly dangerous when the flares are larger than normal. As with GCR, this radiation is only significant outside the Earth?s magnetic field, as we are shielded from the majority of it by the magnetic field.

A picture of the sun. The white area on the right shows the remains of a solar flare, the cause of SPEs.