The solar flare of 1992 August 17 23:58 UT

A small flare (C4.3 in the GOES X-ray class) was well observed by all of the instruments on board Yohkoh. The X-ray light curves have double peaks which are about 5 min apart. Until the first peak from flare onset, four compact areas brighten up in the soft X-ray region, which are aligned almost on one straight line. We regard them as being footpoints of two sets of loops, which are identifiable in soft X-ray images, since their locations match those of hard X-ray sources. Indeed, after the second peak, the temporal behavior of the temperature and emission measure at each point is consistent with the existence of two such loops. Comparing our results with recent MHD simulations; we propose a possible scenario for this flare that is based on the coalescence of two loops.