Sun has a plasma geyser! 

| Read time: 3 minute(s)

We all know that the sun is hot. It is a boiling ball of plasma, constantly churning and turning itself inside out releasing tremendous amounts of energy. Sunspots, a specific solar phenomenon, are capable of hosting geysers, or sites of repeated ejection activity. The origin of these solar geysers has remained mysterious for decades, but new research is beginning to shed light on these spastic phenomena. Magnetic sun The sun contains the most intensely magnetized environment in the solar system. This intensity is caused by two sets of motions within our star's guts. First, hot plasma near the sun's inner core rises (just like hot air rises in a room) to the surface, where it comes face-to-face with the numbing coldness of the vacuum of outer space. Once cooled, this plasma becomes denser and slinks its way back down to the core, ready to start the process anew. The other motion is the rotation of the sun itself. Since the sun isn’t a solid body like Earth, different parts spin at different speeds, and plasma at the equator rotates faster than the stuff at the poles. This combination of inward-outward churning and the twisting caused by the differences in rotation can significantly amplify magnetic fields. The appearance of a plasma geyser is the result of a sudden, excessive amount of magnetic energy destabilizing the environment around the sunspot, leading to the formation of a jet. The research would help scientists understand the hot radiation by the sun. Fun fact The Sun accounts for 99.86% of the mass in the solar system. It has a mass of around 330,000 times that of Earth. It is three quarters hydrogen and most of its remaining mass is helium.

We all know that the sun is hot. It is a boiling ball of plasma, constantly churning and turning itself inside out releasing tremendous amounts of energy. Sunspots, a specific solar phenomenon, are capable of hosting geysers, or sites of repeated ejection activity. The origin of these solar geysers has remained mysterious for decades, but new research is beginning to shed light on these spastic phenomena.

Magnetic sun

The sun contains the most intensely magnetized environment in the solar system. This intensity is caused by two sets of motions within our star’s guts. First, hot plasma near the sun’s inner core rises (just like hot air rises in a room) to the surface, where it comes face-to-face with the numbing coldness of the vacuum of outer space. Once cooled, this plasma becomes denser and slinks its way back down to the core, ready to start the process anew.

The other motion is the rotation of the sun itself. Since the sun isn’t a solid body like Earth, different parts spin at different speeds, and plasma at the equator rotates faster than the stuff at the poles.

This combination of inward-outward churning and the twisting caused by the differences in rotation can significantly amplify magnetic fields.

The appearance of a plasma geyser is the result of a sudden, excessive amount of magnetic energy destabilizing the environment around the sunspot, leading to the formation of a jet.  The research would help scientists understand the hot radiation by the sun.


Fun Fact

The Sun accounts for 99.86% of the mass in the solar system. It has a mass of around 330,000 times that of Earth. It is three quarters hydrogen and most of its remaining mass is helium.


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