NEW DELHI: It has always been a mystery how the sun’s mossy region connects with the lower atmosphere and undergoes a remarkable process of heating from 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit to almost 1 million degrees Fahrenheit, or 100 times hotter than the adjacent vivid surface. Recent research led by scientist Souvik Bose has shed airy on the mechanism of overheating that occurs in moss.
The research used data collected by NASA’s high-resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C) sounding rocket and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission, combined with sophisticated 3D simulations, to uncover the potential role of electric currents in the heating process.
This region contains a elaborate network of magnetic field lines, resembling unseen strands of spaghetti. This magnetic entanglement generates electric currents, helping to heat materials over a wide range of temperatures, from 10,000 to 1 million degrees Fahrenheit. This localized heating of the moss appears to be in addition to the heat given off by the multi-million-degree searing corona above. These findings, detailed in the April 15 issue of the journal Nature Astronomy, provide key information for understanding why the solar corona exceeds surface temperatures.
“Thanks to high-resolution observations and our advanced numerical simulations, we are able to unravel some of this mystery that has plagued us for the last quarter of a century,” noted author Souvik Bose, a research scientist at Lockheed Martin Solar and the Bay Area Astrophysical Laboratory and Environmental Institute, Research Center NASA Ames in Silicon Valley, California. “However, this is only a piece of the puzzle and does not solve the whole problem.”
Further opportunities to unravel the mystery loom on the horizon: Hi-C is scheduled to launch this month to capture a solar flare, potentially covering another moss-covered area next to IRIS. But to gather observations comprehensive enough to explain how the corona and moss heat up, scientists and engineers are actively developing recent instruments for the future Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) mission.
The miniature, vivid, patchy structure made of plasma in the solar atmosphere bears a striking resemblance to Earth’s plants, which is why scientists have named it “moss.” This moss was first discovered in 1999 by NASA’s TRACE mission. It mainly forms around the center of sunspot groups, where magnetic conditions are good.
The research used data collected by NASA’s high-resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C) sounding rocket and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission, combined with sophisticated 3D simulations, to uncover the potential role of electric currents in the heating process.
This region contains a elaborate network of magnetic field lines, resembling unseen strands of spaghetti. This magnetic entanglement generates electric currents, helping to heat materials over a wide range of temperatures, from 10,000 to 1 million degrees Fahrenheit. This localized heating of the moss appears to be in addition to the heat given off by the multi-million-degree searing corona above. These findings, detailed in the April 15 issue of the journal Nature Astronomy, provide key information for understanding why the solar corona exceeds surface temperatures.
“Thanks to high-resolution observations and our advanced numerical simulations, we are able to unravel some of this mystery that has plagued us for the last quarter of a century,” noted author Souvik Bose, a research scientist at Lockheed Martin Solar and the Bay Area Astrophysical Laboratory and Environmental Institute, Research Center NASA Ames in Silicon Valley, California. “However, this is only a piece of the puzzle and does not solve the whole problem.”
Further opportunities to unravel the mystery loom on the horizon: Hi-C is scheduled to launch this month to capture a solar flare, potentially covering another moss-covered area next to IRIS. But to gather observations comprehensive enough to explain how the corona and moss heat up, scientists and engineers are actively developing recent instruments for the future Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) mission.
The miniature, vivid, patchy structure made of plasma in the solar atmosphere bears a striking resemblance to Earth’s plants, which is why scientists have named it “moss.” This moss was first discovered in 1999 by NASA’s TRACE mission. It mainly forms around the center of sunspot groups, where magnetic conditions are good.
