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Shawn L

When was the term solar flare first used to describe these powerful outbursts of energy?

Hi Shawn,

Because I didn't know either I searched and found this on the internet: 

Richard Christopher Carrington was busily observing a prominent group of sunspots on September 1, 1859, when suddenly "two patches of intensely bright and white light broke out." The patches brightened rapidly and then decayed again and by good chance, the observation was confirmed by another English astronomer.
Carrington had seen a flare, of the rare variety that is visible in white light (only about 50 are known). No more than 17 hours later a great magnetic storm erupted, with aurora seen as far as Cuba. Carrington noted the connection, but cautioned that "one swallow does not make a summer."

I hope this answers your question,

Mandy 

I tried to search and find when the term 'flare' was first used in stellar astronomy for observations of flares on other stars.  couldn't find it.  I think that it would have to be more recent than Carrington's observation of a solar flare, given the kind of observation needed.  but I could be wrong!  -KD 

The first time a solar flare was OBSERVED (as far as we know), was in 1859 by Carrington and Hodgson, who independently "discovered" flares; they described the flare as brilliant or intensely bright.  According to a paper by E.W. Cliver that appeared in volume 157, 1995 edition of Solar Physics,  the terms used in the 30s and early 1940s to describe these events on the Sun were eruptions or bright chromospheric eruptions.  Interestingly, the first time that a flare was observed on a star other than the Sun was in the 1920s, with the best known seen in the late 1940s.  But it seems that the first time the term "solar flare" was used, was in the 1940s.  During the 1940s, the use of the term flare became more common, because observations of flares showed very little outward explosive movement.  To see an abstract and first page of Cliver's paper, which describes the evolution of solar flare names, go to:  

http://www.springerlink.com/content/rj072005x602q675/

To see what Carrington and Hodgson actually wrote, go here: