Why is the suns external atmosphere hotter than its surface area?
NASA/GSFC/Solar Dynamics Observatory
At 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the suns surface area appears like it would be one of the hottest places in our planetary system. In the outermost layer of its atmosphere called the corona, temperatures can reach 100 times higher. Why? Thats a secret that has puzzled researchers for decades. Its known as the coronal heating problem.Using a supercomputer, astrophysicists have actually been able to reconcile two of the significant theories for the coronas severe heat and show they compare nicely with observations taken by NASAs Parker Solar Probe, a small robotic that recently ended up being the first spacecraft to “touch the sun.” Their research study, published Thursday in the journal Nature Astronomy, uses a six-dimensional simulation of a small spot of the suns corona to analyze how particles are heated up and how they connect with the massive heaters magnetic fields. ” What is good about our outcome is that it connects together 2 previous theories that had actually each been extremely well studied,” said Jonathan Squire, an astrophysicist at the University of Otago in New Zealand. The theories focus on “turbulence,” which heats up the corona by transferring energy from near the sun outward, and a kind of magnetic wave known as “ion cyclotron waves.” The theories both have holes that dont associate observations made by spacecraft and telescopes. They have a hard time to explain how the corona can get so hot on their own.So Squire and his co-authors essentially shrugged their shoulders and asked: “Well, why do not we have both?” The computer system simulations they performed program that turbulence drives the ion cyclotron waves, “which successfully keeps the “excellent bits” of both of the theories separately,” according to Squire. Though the team didnt directly use data from NASAs Solar Probe in this paper, it did supply a point of comparison and its information appeared to match what the sun simulation spat out, providing the scientists self-confidence in their simulations. This does not necessarily suggest the “coronal heating problem” is solved, however Squire stated the team has actually made essential development in understanding the phenomenon.He mentions that “there might be multiple different mechanisms running in different parts of the sun” and various systems could be heating the corona in different methods. While all this appears like a problem thats 100 million miles away from home, the corona– and the solar wind that blasts out of the sun– can wreak havoc on Earth. They send out particles blazing throughout space that can trigger geomagnetic storms, tinkering our planets electromagnetic field and interfering with satellites.In early February, a batch of just recently introduced SpaceX Starlink satellites were doomed after a geomagnetic storm hit them simply after launch, avoiding the broadband satellites from reaching their wanted orbit. They ultimately came crashing back to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere.Squire said the factor those storms are so violent need to be associated with the methods in which the corona and solar wind warms up. Indirectly, turbulence and ion cyclotron waves may one day secure your web– unless we can see them coming.” In order to have better predictions for space weather and geomagnetic storms,” Squire stated, “we have to understand more about how the corona works.”
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At 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the suns surface area seems like it would be one of the most popular locations in our solar system. The team didnt straight use data from NASAs Solar Probe in this paper, it did provide a point of comparison and its information seemed to match what the sun simulation spat out, giving the scientists self-confidence in their simulations. While all this appears like a problem thats 100 million miles away from home, the corona– and the solar wind that blasts out of the sun– can wreak havoc on Earth. They ultimately came crashing back to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere.Squire stated the reason those storms are so violent must be related to the methods in which the corona and solar wind heats up.
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