Image: A still captured just before a powerful solar flare erupted on the Sun, shown in remarkable clarity by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft. Credit: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team Much like an avalanche begins with a minor shift in snow, the ESA-led Solar Orbiter has revealed that solar flares also originate from small-scale disruptions that escalate into more intense activity. This series of turbulent processes generates streams of plasma droplets that continue to fall even after the