Solar flares are one of the most closely watched processes in solar physics. Partly thats because they can prove hazardous both to life and equipment around Earth, and in extreme cases even on it. But also, its because of how interestingly complex they are. A new paper from Pradeep Chitta of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and his co-authors, available in the latest edition of Astronomy & Astrophysics, uses data collected by ESAs Solar Orbiter spacecraft to watch the formation process of a massive solar flare. They discovered the traditional model used to describe how solar flares form isnt accurate, and they are better thought of as being caused by miniaturized magnetic avalanches.