Scientists find how magnetic waves help the sun maintain its 15 million degree temperature

Researchers at Queen's University Belfast uncover some of the mysteries in how the sun able to heat its atmosphere. The research article was published in “a study in Nature Physics”

In that article they reveal that magnetic waves crashing through the sun are one of the main reasons for the heating process and thus propelling the sun wind.

The waves play a important role in maintaining the sun’s super high temperatures, this was predicted some 75 years ago now only it was proved.

"At Queen's, we have now led a team to detect and pinpoint the heat produced by Alfvén waves in a sunspot," Jess added. "This theory was predicted some 75 years ago but we now have the proof for the very first time. Our research opens up a new window to understanding how this phenomenon could potentially work in other areas such as energy reactors and medical devices."

To find the mystery, the research took advanced high-resolution observations from the Dunn Solar Telescope in New Mexico, US, alongside complementary observations from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, to analyse the strongest magnetic fields that appear in sunspots.

"By breaking the sun's light up into its constituent colours, our international team of researchers were able to examine the behaviour of certain elements from the periodic table within the sun's atmosphere, including calcium and iron," added another researcher on the paper, Dr. Samuel Grant from Queen's University.

"Once these elements had been extracted, intense flashes of light were detected in the image sequences."

He said that these intense flashes had all the hallmarks of the Alfvén waves converting their energy into shock waves, in a similar way to a supersonic aircraft creating a boom as it exceeds the speed of sound.

"The shock waves then ripple through the surrounding plasma, producing extreme heat. Using supercomputers, we were able to analyse the data and show for the first time in history that the Alfvén waves were capable of increasing plasma temperatures violently above their calm background," he explained.

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NASA releases “Unearthly” pictures of Jupiter by Juno Probe

         NASA's Juno probe, which launched towards Jupiter nearly seven years ago, has given a image of the biggest planet in our solar system. That was described as “unearthly”

        The space agency released the photos and they show the wind sculpted band which is nearly 3000 km long. The Jupiter weather layer is equivalent of the mass of 3 earths. The weather layer contains one percent of the planet’s mass the atmospheric winds of the gas-giant planet run deep into its atmosphere and last longer than similar atmospheric processes found here on Earth. The findings will improve understanding of Jupiter’s interior structure, core mass and, eventually, its origin.

         “These astonishing science results are yet another example of Jupiter’s curve balls, and a testimony to the value of exploring the unknown from a new perspective with next-generation instruments”, said Scott Bolton,

          “The very center may contain a core made of high-pressure and high-temperature rocks and perhaps water, but it is believed to be fluid as well, not solid,” said planetary scientist Tristan Guillot of the Université Côte d’Azur in Nice, another of the research leaders.

Juno’s data showed a small but significant asymmetry between the gravitational field of Jupiter’s northern and southern hemispheres, driven by the immense jet streams. The deeper the jets streams go, the more mass they contain, exerting a strong effect on Jupiter’s gravitational field, Kaspi said.

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What Is a Black Hole?

What Is a Black Hole?

A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.

There are three types:
Stellar black holes
Supermassive black holes
Intermediate black holes

Stellar black holes — small but deadly
When a star burns through the last of its fuel, it may collapse, or fall into itself. For smaller stars, up to about three times the sun's mass, the new core will be a neutron star or a white dwarf. But when a larger star collapses, it continues to compress and creates a stellar black hole.

Supermassive black holes — the birth of giants
Small black holes populate the universe, but their cousins, supermassive black holes, dominate. Supermassive black holes are millions or even billions of times as massive as the sun, but have a radius similar to that of Earth's closest star. Such black holes are thought to lie at the center of pretty much every galaxy, including the Milky Way.

Intermediate black holes – stuck in the middle
Scientists once thought black holes came in only small and large sizes, but recent research has revealed the possibility for the existence of mid-size, or intermediate, black holes (IMBHs). Such bodies could form when stars in a cluster collide in a chain reaction. Several of these forming in the same region could eventually fall together in the center of a galaxy and create a supermassive black hole

How Is NASA Studying Black Holes?
NASA is using satellites and telescopes that are traveling in space to learn more about black holes. These spacecraft help scientists answer questions about the universe.

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