Astronomers using Sunrise-III find magnetic web in sun's chromosphere
Technology
Astronomers just found a surprisingly complex "magnetic web" in the sun's quiet zones, thanks to new data from the Sunrise-III solar observatory.
These thread-like magnetic structures, spotted in a layer called the chromosphere, are giving scientists fresh clues about how energy moves and heats up the sun's atmosphere.
Tangled fields in sun's quiet areas
Even in areas that look calm, the sun is buzzing with tangled magnetic fields.
The Sunrise-III observatory, launched on a high-altitude balloon in 2024, helped researchers obtain exceptionally detailed measurements of these details.
Understanding this hidden web could help scientists investigate how energy is transferred into higher layers of the atmosphere.