University of Birmingham professor William J. Chaplin finds solar signal
Technology
A group led by Professor William J. Chaplin at the University of Birmingham has uncovered a secret solar signal buried beneath the sun's surface.
Using nearly 40 years of data tracking sound waves inside the sun, they found that what's happening below is way more intense than what we see on the surface, like sunspots.
Seismic activity matches earlier cycles
Even though Solar Cycle 25 looks weaker from outside, seismic activity below matches earlier cycles, hinting that old ways of measuring solar activity might miss what's really going on underneath.
The study also noticed that changes within the sun are now squeezed into a thin layer just 1,000km under its surface, a shift that could mean big changes in how the sun works over time.