The paradox has astronomers scratching their heads over magnetic waves, nanoflares, and the now-debunked element coronium.
“It is very confusing why the solar corona is farther away from the sun’s core, but is so much hotter,” says University of California, Berkeley space sciences researcherThe solar surface lingers around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, while the thin corona can get as hot as 2 million degrees. This conundrum is known as the“Simply speaking, solving this problem could help us understand our sun better,” says Huang.
A closeup of the sun’s convective, or boiling, motion, with a small sunspot forming on the right, from Hinode, a collaboration between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The outer layers of the sun are constantly boiling and roil with mechanical energy. This fluid motion generates complex magnetic fields that extend far up into the corona.1869 total solar eclipse
—an alignment of the sun, moon, and Earth that blocks out the bulk of the sun’s light—scientists were able to observe the faint corona. Their observations revealed a feature in the corona that they took as evidence of presence of a new element: . Improved theories of quantum mechanics over 60 years later revealed the “new element” to be plain old iron, but heated to a temperature that was higher than the sun’s surface.This new explanation for the puzzling 1869 measurement was the first evidence of the corona’s extreme temperature, and kicked off decades of study to understand justthe plasma got so hot.
“We know for sure that this problem hasn’t yet been resolved, though we have many theories, and the whole [astronomy] community is still enthusiastically working on it,” says Huang. There are currently two main hypotheses for how energy from the sun heats the corona: the motion of waves and an explosive phenomenon called nanoflares.The surface of the sun roils and bubbles like a pot of boiling water.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
More than 200 million Americans springing into above-average warmth this week from unseasonable pattern changeWarm weather is expected to develop across most of the eastern U.S. this week thanks to an unseasonable pattern change that will likely lead to above-average temperatures, with daytime highs getting into the 70s and 80s, for more than 200 million Americans.
Read more »
Exxon sells nearly 200 acres near Southwest Side parkA Houston firm purchased the vacant land near Pearsall Park from oil company Exxon Mobil Corp. It has other holdings in San Antonio.
Read more »
More than 200 drugmakers led by Pfizer blast Texas judge's abortion pill decisionMore than 200 drugmakers led by Pfizer have signed an open letter blasting the decision by a federal judge in Texas to issue a hold on federal approval of mifepristone, the most commonly used method of abortion in the U.S.
Read more »
Ukraine, Russia send home around 200 troops in prisoner swapMore than 200 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have returned home in a prisoner swap. russia ukraine kprc2 click2hou
Read more »
Ukraine, Russia send home around 200 troops in prisoner swapMore than 200 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have returned home in a prisoner swap, the warring countries said Monday. Russia’s Defense Ministry said 106 Russian soldiers were released from Ukrainian custody as part of an agreement with Ukraine.
Read more »
Ukraine, Russia send home around 200 troops in prisoner swapMore than 200 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have returned home in a prisoner swap. Russia’s Defense Ministry said 106 Russian soldiers were released from Ukrainian custody. Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said that Russia freed 100 Ukrainian prisoners. Neither announcement mentioned whether any intermediaries were involved in the agreement. Yermak said in a statement published on Telegram that some of the Ukrainian soldiers have severe injuries and illnesses. He added that the latest of the sporadic prisoner swaps in the war that started in February 2022 was “not an easy one.” He did not elaborate.
Read more »