New Findings Reveal How the Solar Transition Region is Rotating
In a new study, researchers have discovered that the Sun’s transition region rotates much faster than expected. This region is the bridge between the Sun’s hot inner atmosphere and its cooler outer atmosphere, and understanding its behavior is essential to accurately predicting solar activity. The team’s findings could help scientists better understand solar dynamics and better predict future solar events.
The transition region is located tens of thousands of miles above the Sun’s surface, and it is where temperatures can rise from tens of thousands of degrees to millions of degrees in just a few thousand kilometers. The region is also home to violent eruptions of solar material that can have far-reaching effects on Earth.
The team used data from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) to measure the speed of the transition region’s rotation. They found that it rotates at a surprisingly fast rate, about 2-3 times faster than previously expected. This finding could help us better understand the dynamics of the region, and hopefully lead to more accurate predictions of solar activity.
source: Phys.org