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Early studies of stellar flares were made entirely in the optical regime. It was recognised that flares arose from the generation of hot plasma within the stellar chromosphere at whose temperature (indicated, for instance, by the presence of a strong, blue optical continuum) a substantial emission in the ultraviolet would be expected. It was not until the advent of space-borne instruments of adequate sensitivity, however, that direct confirmation of this prediction was forthcoming. In this review I examine some results of more than a decade of observation of stellar flares in the UV.
The major source of ultraviolet data on stellar flares has been the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite (Boggess et al. 1979). In order to understand the limitations of our current understanding in this area it is important to appreciate some of the characteristics of its instrumentation. IUE’s telescope is of 40 cm aperture and it is equipped with a spectrograph which can operate at two resolutions, i.e. Δλ/λ ∼350 (LORES) and ∼17000 (HIRES). Its detectors are optimised for operation in two wavebands, i.e. ∼1150-1950Å (SW) and ∼1950-3200 Å (LW). IUE’s small apert ure results in a limited sensitivity, a consequence of which is a modest time resolution when studying stellar flares (a long exposure time is needed to gain adequate signal-to-noise). IUE’s elliptical 24-hour quasi-geosynchronous orbit and its resulting interactive mode of operation make continuous monitoring feasible, a feature suiting flare star work.
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