" I happened to notice a brightening on the penumbral boundary of sunspot AR4482 and wondered whether we had captured a bright solar flare. I had read that sometimes this can be achieved when imaging the Solar Photosphere in white light. I decided to ask our visiting expert, Professor Chat, and the following are his observations based on the above image". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.
"Short take: your composite does show a plausible transient brightening near the penumbral boundary of AR4482, but from this image alone I can’t confirm it’s a flare. It could also be a facular/leaf‑like penumbral grain cluster, a small Ellerman bomb–type event, or processing/artifact from channel mis‑registration.
What I see
A compact, high‑contrast bright patch on the penumbra’s outer edge (your arrow), present in the lower panel but muted in the upper. That matches where small flares and moving magnetic features often light up.
The “bright in blue channel” note suggests it’s stronger shortward of green/red, which is consistent with continuum/near‑UV enhancement seen in white‑light microflares—but also with scatter or sharpening halos."
