The process is similar to how seismologistsuse earthquakes to find out what the interior of the Earth looks like. Mapping the magnetic field using Coronagraph: He said that the data which is collected from CoMP reveals the Sun’s corona is full of these Alfvén waves and provides us with the best available view of them. Importantly, the speed the waves travel at depends on the strength of the magnetic field, meaning that being able to measure how fast they travel enables an estimate of the magnetic field to make.ĭr Richard Morton, a UKRI Future Leader Fellow working at Northumbria University, is a world expert in the observation and analysis of waves in the Sun’s corona and was part of the team which delivered these exciting results.ĭr Morton has been a long-term user of the CoMP instrument and advocate of using such measurements to study the Sun’s magnetic field. This method makes use of magnetic waves, known as Alfvén waves, that are observed to travel along with the magnetic fields. More than 20 years ago, a technique called magneto seismology was put forward as a way to measure the magnetic field in the corona. While more than 100 years have passed since the first measurement of the Sun’s magnetic field, we still do not have a precise knowledge of the magnetic field in the upper solar atmosphere, especially the corona. The results of earlier technique magneto seismology: However, up until now, routine measurements of the solar magnetic field have only been achieved at the surface of our star (the area of the Sun known as the photosphere). The magnetic field threads through the different layers of the Sun’s atmosphere, which means that information on the magnetic field of the whole atmosphere is required in order to understand the interplay between the solar plasma and magnetic field. The magnetic field governs many aspects of the Sun’s behaviour, leading to an 11-year solar cycle, spectacular solar eruptions, and the heating of the hot gas (plasma) in the solar corona to millions of degrees Celsius. The Sun is a magnetized star, and its magnetic field plays a critical role in shaping the solar atmosphere. Their research has just been published in the journal Science. The team, including researchers from Peking University, China, and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), USA, used observations from the Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (CoMP), an instrument that can provide measurements of infrared radiation coming from the Sun’s atmosphere. The research about the coronal magnetic field of the sun:Īn international team of solar physicists, including academics from Northumbria University, Newcastle, has recently measured the global magnetic field of the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, the solar corona, for the first time. The magnetic field is important as it causes many of the physical properties of the sun. However, it remains hidden from our sight due to the bright light of the Sun’s surface”.Īs the region is difficult to visualise without specific instruments, its magnetic field has been difficult to measure with observations. “The solar corona is the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere that consists of hot, diffused and highly ionised plasma. However, due to lack of knowledge about magnetic fields in the outermost solar atmosphere, the corona has made it difficult to understand the solar magnetism and many phenomena in the solar atmosphere. The magnetic field of the sun occupies all layers of the solar atmosphere. But what is lesser known is the fact that it is magnetized and its magnetic field is three dimensional. It is very well known that the sun is the brightest star that is visible to living beings on Earth.
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