2023-11-20 12:00:05
Astronomers recently witnessed a spectacular phenomenon on the Sun, similar to Earth’s northern lights. This manifestation, visible as an emission of radio waves, was observed approximately 40,000 kilometers above a sunspot (A sunspot is a region on the surface of the Sun…), a dark and magnetically intense area on the surface of our star (A star is a celestial object emitting light autonomously, similar to a…).
An artistic illustration of the auroral emission from the surface of the sun.
Credit: Sijie Yu
This phenomenon was detected thanks to the observation of radio waves for a week. Although similar signals have been noted before from distant stars, this is the first time such a signal has been observed emanating from our Sun. The results of this study were published on November 13 in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Sijie Yu, an astronomer at the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (NJIT-CSTR), emphasizes the importance of this discovery, which differs from usual transient radio solar flares. This phenomenon might change our understanding of stellar magnetic processes.
On Earth, auroras are the result of energetic solar matter interacting with our atmosphere near the poles, where the magnetic field (in physics, the magnetic field (or magnetic induction, or flux density …) is weaker. These interactions excite the molecules of oxygen (Oxygen is a chemical element of the chalcogen family,…) and nitrogen, which release energy (In the sense common energy designates everything that allows us to carry out work, make…) in the form of light (Light is all the electromagnetic waves visible to the eye…), thus creating curtains colorful in the sky.
Matter is usually thrown from the Sun when a magnetic field around a sunspot suddenly distorts and breaks. This causes bursts of radiation known as solar flares and explosive jets of solar material called coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
By pointing a radio telescope at a sunspot, the researchers detected an auroral emission above it, probably due to the acceleration of electrons along powerful magnetic field lines of the sunspot.
This discovery opens new perspectives for studying solar activity. Researchers now explore data from archives to research (Scientific research primarily refers to all the actions undertaken in view…) of evidence of previous solar auroras.
“We are beginning to piece together the puzzle of how energetic particles interact with magnetic fields in a system with persistent star spots,” adds physicist Surajit Mondal. that is to say the…) solar at NJIT.
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