Scientists think they have finally discovered what makes the Sun’s corona so hot
Using data from Europe’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft, scientists now think they have finally pinpointed the process that causes the Sun’s corona — its atmosphere — to be many times hotter than its surface.
For decades, scientists have been struggling to explain why temperatures in the sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, reach mind-boggling temperatures of over 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit (one million degrees Celsius). The sun’s surface has only about 10,000 degrees F (6,000 degrees C), and with the corona farther away from the source of the heat inside the star, the outer atmosphere should, in fact, be cooler.
New observations made by the Europe-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft have now provided hints to what might be behind this mysterious heating. Using images taken by the spacecraft’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), a camera that detects the high-energy extreme ultraviolet light emitted by the sun, scientists have discovered small-scale fast-moving magnetic waves that whirl on the sun’s surface. These fast-oscillating waves produce so much energy, according to latest calculations, that they could explain the coronal heating.
You can read the paper here [pdf]. The results have not yet been confirmed, but if so it will solve one of the space age’s oldest scientific mysteries.
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Using data from Europe’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft, scientists now think they have finally pinpointed the process that causes the Sun’s corona — its atmosphere — to be many times hotter than its surface.
For decades, scientists have been struggling to explain why temperatures in the sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, reach mind-boggling temperatures of over 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit (one million degrees Celsius). The sun’s surface has only about 10,000 degrees F (6,000 degrees C), and with the corona farther away from the source of the heat inside the star, the outer atmosphere should, in fact, be cooler.
New observations made by the Europe-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft have now provided hints to what might be behind this mysterious heating. Using images taken by the spacecraft’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), a camera that detects the high-energy extreme ultraviolet light emitted by the sun, scientists have discovered small-scale fast-moving magnetic waves that whirl on the sun’s surface. These fast-oscillating waves produce so much energy, according to latest calculations, that they could explain the coronal heating.
You can read the paper here [pdf]. The results have not yet been confirmed, but if so it will solve one of the space age’s oldest scientific mysteries.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Sol is a cosmic induction cooktop? Amazing.
“what makes the Sun’s corona is so hot”
Cotour: Fixed. Thank you.
Now….might that allow a new type of solar energy to be harvested via Dyson Harrop loops?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson%E2%80%93Harrop_satellite
On a similar note:
https://phys.org/news/2023-07-energy-harvesting-law-breaking-device.html
“The connection between an object’s ability to absorb and emit energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation—its absorptive and emissive efficiencies—has long been explained by something known as Kirchhoff’s law of thermal radiation. The paper describing the work, “Direct Observation of Kirchhoff Thermal Radiation Law Violation,” appears in the July 24 issue of the journal Nature Photonics.”
“‘Our study shows that it is possible to break the equality of Kirchhoff’s law of thermal radiation with a device placed in a **moderate magnetic field. **The device itself combines a material that has a strong magnetic-field response with a patterned structure that enhances absorption and emission in infrared wavelengths.'”
Magnetics can also be used to stop the next Carrington event—which will happen again (AGW or not)
Unlike aerosols—SPS can be a two-fer…clean energy–and grid protection:
https://arxiv.org/abs/1709.05348
Never bought into the electric universe crap—fusion is real—but there could be links….
More on solar power:
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-07-solar-batteries-material-simultaneously-absorb.html
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Lunar_solar_power_satellite_999.html
https://ideas.esa.int/servlet/hype/IMT?documentTableId=45087160512457712&userAction=Browse&templateName=&documentId=ac96bcaf9d2ee78fe3df65a4112539b7
Gene Meyers has the best plan
https://www.thespaceshow.com/show/14-dec-2021/broadcast-3801-gene-meyers
Oh—there does seem to be Dark Energy particles produced near the same region:
https://phys.org/news/2021-09-dark-energy-scientists-possibility.html