For decades, scientists have been trying to explain why the sun’s surface temperature is only 6,000 degrees Celsius, but the outer atmosphere is as high as 1 million degrees Celsius. Recently, new observations by the Solar Orbiter (SolO) may be able to solve the mystery behind this mysterious heating.
The Solar Orbiter (SolO) is a satellite launched by the European Space Agency to orbit the sun. It was launched at the Kennedy Space Center in February 2020. The scientific achievements of these years include capturing super-large prominence eruptions, receiving the sun’s coronal mass bombardment, Take photos of Mercury transits that clearly show the difference in body size, etc.
Scientists have long wondered why the sun’s surface temperature is only 6,000 degrees Celsius, but the outer atmosphere “corona” that extends millions of kilometers into space can be as high as millions of degrees.
Recently, according to new photos taken by the spacecraft “EUV full-Sun and high-resolution Imager (EUI)”, scientists have discovered small-scale magnetic waves that rotate and move quickly on the surface of the sun. Multi-energy, can explain the coronal heating mechanism.
Scientists have detected slower magnetic waves in the past, but these waves could not generate enough energy to explain the huge temperature difference between the sun’s surface and the outer atmosphere. Until now, there is finally more and more evidence that the corona can be heated by magnetic waves.
The team will devote more time to studying the newly discovered magnetic waves on the surface of the sun.new paperPublished in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
(Source of the first picture:pixabay）
