New Study Tries To Explain Sun's Magnetic Mystery

Our sun has shown some cosmic mysteries that are slowly beginning to unravel with the help of modern science.

The engine that drives our sun is the magnetic field heating its multi-million degree atmosphere called the corona. Magnetic field lines come from sun's interior into the corona. They are highly dynamic and follow the sun's 11-year cycle. The coronal loops of superheated plasma are the basis of coronal heating mechanisms.

Until now, it was not fully understood why the sun's internal dynamo follows the 11-year long period, during which solar activity spikes up around a period called "solar maximum." At the solar maximum the sun's magnetic activity increases and triggers clusters of active regions as well as dark spots called "sunspots." During this time, massive solar eruptions peak and can affect our planet.

In order to understand the solar cycle, the powerful flares in the corona and their impacts on Earth, scientists must understand the process of sun's magnetism. On NASA's website, aid space scientist Dean Pesnell explains that it clear for the scientific community where the magnetic field is created in the sun. In could be over a wide range of depths, from deep inside the sun to close to the solar surface.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is working in conjunction with other space weather observatories and solar telescopes to analyze the dynamic sun in more detail. Complementary computer models are used to interpret these observations based on known physics behind the solar corona. Such models help scientists to better understand the sun's magnetic field and environment.

There are also NASA space missions dedicated to studying the sun the solar eruptions. Occasionally, the solar flares also project plasma called coronal mass ejection (CME) out into space.

According to Scientific American, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Bin Chen, is the lead author of a study that provides the first solid observational evidence that a kind of stationary shock wave accelerates particles released during a solar eruption.

We are still far from fully understanding how the sun's dynamo works, according to Discovery News. However, scientists are continuously improving their models and aim to find better ways to predict the solar weather that can impact the Earth.