The powerful belch of material ejected during a solar flare may be way hotter than scientists thought it was.

A new mathematical analysis suggests that the engine driving solar flares is far more effective at heating charged particles, or ions, than it is at heating electrons.

This could mean that we've been underestimating the Sun, since flare temperatures are estimated based on electron heating. The latest calculations show that ions in solar flares might reach a scorching 60 million Kelvin (60 million ºC, or 1.08 billion ºF).

Related: World's Most Powerful Solar Telescope Captures Its First Monster Flare in Astonishing Detail

"Solar physics has historically assumed that ions and electrons must have the same temperature," explains astrophysicist Alexander Russell of the Universi

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