Fermi-LAT Observations of the 2017 September 10 Solar Flare

The Fermi-Large Area Telescope detection of the X8.2 GOES class solar flare of 2017 September 10 provides for the first time observations of a long-duration high-energy gamma-ray flare associated with a ground-level enhancement (GLE). The >100 MeV emission from this flare lasted for more than 12 hr covering both the impulsive and extended phases. We present the localization of the gamma-ray emission and find that it is consistent with the active region from which the flare occurred over a period lasting more than 6 hr. The temporal variation of the gamma-ray flux and of the proton index inferred from the gamma-ray data seems to suggest three phases in acceleration of the proton population. Based on timing arguments we interpret the last phase to be tied to the acceleration mechanism powering the powering the production of the GLE particles.