The Sun is literally wrapped in a mystery . The solar electric glow , the aura of plasma that beleaguer our star , has a temperature in the millions of degrees , century of times hotter than the surface of the Sun , the so - called photosphere . Many scientist are trying to solve the enigma of this temperature difference .
In a new paper publish inNature Communications , researchers have observed the presence of magnetic plasma pulses known as Alfvén pulse within the chromosphere , the flimsy level between the solar surface and the corona that ’s visible as a red ring during solar eclipses . The squad observe that at any given time , there are at least 150,000 swirl of plasm from the photosphere , each as with child as Oregon ( or the British Isles ) .
“ purl motions are everywhere in the world , from sinking water system in domestic pat with a size of centimeters , to twister on Earth and on the Sun , solar jets and spiral galaxies with a size of it of up to 520,000 light - age . This workplace has read , for the first time , the observational grounds that ubiquitous swirls in the solar aura could sire short - live Alfvén pulses , ” co - author Professor Robertus Erdélyi , from the University of Sheffield , said in astatement .
The Alfvén heartbeat are fussy motions of particles in the plasm . They can go through the solar standard pressure along the cylindric magnetic subway system that form in the neighborhood . In this manner , they can pass on the high layer of the chromosphere and maybe even beyond in the Saint Elmo’s fire , bring a lot of energy with them .
“ The energy magnetic flux carried by the Alfvén pulses we detected now are estimated to be more than 10 times high than that needed for heating the local upper solar chromosphere , ” direct author Dr Jiajia Liu , explained .
“ We believe , these UK - sized photospheric magnetic plasma swirls are also very promising candidates not just for vitality but also for mass transportation between the dispirited and upper layers of the solar atmosphere , ” Erdélyi added .
The team will stay on to inquire these swirls to understand if and how much they put up to coronal heating . More elaborate data about the solar Saint Elmo’s fire will come from theParker Solar Probe , which is currently on an orbit that will take it closer and closer to our star over the next few yr .
