Tag

Corona

All articles tagged with #corona

space12 days ago•11 min saved

Sun reveals 20-kilometer plasma whirlpools linked to corona heating mystery

New high-resolution images from the NSF’s Inouye Solar Telescope show 20-km-wide plasma vortices at the edges of magnetic flux on the Sun’s surface, caused by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. These swirling motions could braid magnetic fields and help channel energy from the surface into the corona, offering a potential piece of the coronal-heating puzzle, but the authors caution they have not quantified the energy contribution and call for independent confirmation with even more powerful instruments.

via Space Daily|

#corona #kelvin-helmholtz-instability #photosphere

science12 days ago•5 min saved

Aditya-L1 uncovers magnetic fix behind the Sun's scorching corona

New findings from India's Aditya-L1 mission show the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, is heated mainly by magnetic-field-line reconnection (≈93%), with surface waves contributing about 7%. By analyzing a highly energetic CME on 5 August 2024, scientists quantified energy replenishment and confirmed the corona remains exceptionally hot despite repeated eruptions; the results, published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, provide a key benchmark for solar physics.

via BBC|

#aditya-l1 #corona #magnetic-reconnection

science13 days ago•157 min saved

First Glimpses of the 2026 Total Solar Eclipse Spark Awe Across the Sky

Space.com reports the start of the 2026 total solar eclipse, with the first totality photos from Scoresby Sund, Greenland, taken aboard the MS Spitsbergen on HX Expeditions showing the sun’s corona as the moon’s shadow swallows the Sun. The eclipse path then moves toward Spain, with Space.com editors Daisy Dobrijevic and Anthony Wood providing live updates from Greenland and central Europe. Totality will sweep across the Northern Hemisphere before fading off the north coast of Africa at 2:34 p.m. EDT (1834 GMT).

via Space|

#2026 #corona #eclipse

science13 days ago•6 min saved

Spain Sees Its First Total Solar Eclipse in Over a Century

Spain witnessed its first total solar eclipse in more than a century, with totality lasting about two minutes along a path across the north and western regions; scientists used the event to study the solar corona via a nasa WB-57 mission and balloon experiments, while observers across towns captured dramatic eclipse imagery as daylight dimmed and returned.

via WIRED|

#astronomy #corona #nasa

space13 days ago•158 min saved

NASA to chase Aug. 12 solar eclipse with jet and balloons for corona study

NASA will use a high-altitude WB-57 research jet and the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project to study the sun’s corona during the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse, with four cameras in the jet to capture corona dynamics while coordinated balloons examine atmospheric changes, ozone levels, and the Earth’s boundary layer as daylight fades in the eclipse path.

via Space|

#balloons #corona #nasa

space14 days ago•4 min saved

From Daguerreotype to Digital: Eclipse Photography Reaches New Heights

In 1851, Berkowski captured the first successful photo of a total solar eclipse with a daguerreotype, fixing the solar corona for objective study and transforming solar astronomy. The article then previews the Aug. 12, 2026 eclipse, noting that modern digital gear allows better images and offering practical tips—site choice along the totality, solar filters for any partial phases, exposed-bracketed shots, and removing filters only at totality to reveal the corona—highlighting how eclipse photography has evolved from 19th‑century plates to today’s sensors.

via Futura, le média qui explore le monde|

#astronomy #corona #history

space16 days ago•163 min saved

Aug. 12, 2026 eclipse will deliver a one-of-a-kind corona snapshot

During the Aug. 12, 2026 total solar eclipse, the sun’s corona will briefly become visible and will reflect the solar magnetic activity of Solar Cycle 25, meaning no two eclipses look the same. Observers may see prominences along the edge and, with luck, a CME snapshot, but the exact corona depends on sunspot activity in the days around totality and viewing conditions.

via Space|

#corona #prominences #solar-cycle-25

space1 month ago•103 min saved

Dust Near the Sun Offers Clue to the Corona’s Extreme Heat

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe detected voltage spikes from clouds of charged dust near the Sun, suggesting dust interacts with Alfvén waves and the solar wind to deposit energy into the corona. This could help explain why the corona reaches millions of degrees hotter than the Sun’s surface and may influence how future solar missions study near-sun dust.

via Space|

#alfven-waves #corona #dust

space2 months ago•9 min saved

Parker Solar Probe Dives into Corona to Untangle the Sun’s Heat Mystery

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has repeatedly traversed the Sun’s corona—the outer atmosphere where temperatures soar above a million degrees—giving in-situ measurements that deepen the mystery of why the corona is so hot. A December 2024 near-surface pass (6.1 million km from the Sun, traveling ~692,000 km/h) confirmed the craft’s survival and enabled direct plasma, magnetic-field, and flow readings. The results keep the heating question open, highlighting two leading ideas—wave heating and small-scale magnetic reconnection (nanoflares)—neither of which is yet confirmed as dominant. The mission also finds switchbacks (abrupt magnetic reversals) abundant in the near-Sun solar wind but apparently absent inside the corona, refining how the wind is accelerated and fed by coronal processes. With repeated passes through late 2026 and NASA’s review looming, Parker’s data are helping to distinguish between competing explanations, but the exact energy transfer powering the corona remains unresolved.

via Space Daily|

#corona #heating-mechanisms #parker-solar-probe

science2 months ago•14 min saved

Parker Solar Probe Braces the Sun at 430,000 mph Behind a 4.5-Inch Shield

The Parker Solar Probe is now flying through the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, at about 430,000 mph—fast enough to cross the continental U.S. in 20 seconds. Behind a 4.5-inch-thick carbon-carbon shield with a carbon foam core, the electronics stay near room temperature while the shield’s face reaches roughly 2,500°F. The shield’s design lets it approach the Alfvén surface and sample fast‑moving solar wind and structures, a capability made possible by seven Venus flybys to tighten its orbit. The probe carries four instrument suites (FIELDS, SWEAP, WISPR, ISʘIS) to study electric and magnetic fields, particles, and corona imagery, and its speed and shielding enable science beyond the original plan.

via Space Daily|

#carbon-foam #corona #heat-shield

plants4 months ago•18 min saved

Storms reveal glowing treetops as corona discharges are captured on camera

Using a UV camera mounted on a research vehicle, scientists captured hundreds of tiny corona discharges glowing along treetops during thunderstorms, showing that nearly every leaf can glow under a storm’s electric field; each corona carries about a microamp of current and produces hydroxyl radicals that can scrub pollutants but may also damage leaves, with potential implications for forest chemistry and even storm dynamics, observed across multiple storms and tree species and reported in Geophysical Research Letters by Penn State researchers led by P. J. McFarland.

via Earth.com|

#corona #corona-discharge #plants

science5 months ago•6 min saved

Van-Chased Storms Reveal Trees’ Ultraviolet Corona

Researchers mounted a UV camera on a modified minivan to capture the ultraviolet corona emitted by trees during thunderstorms for the first time. The team observed 41 bursts in sweetgum and loblolly pine across the U.S. East Coast, with each burst emitting billions of photons at around 260 nanometers. This real but previously unobserved glow could influence forest health and atmospheric chemistry and may play a role in thunderstorm electrification, suggesting such coronae occur across forests worldwide.

via Indian Defence Review|

#corona #forests #meteorology

science5 months ago•5 min saved

Trees Glow Ultraviolet in Storms - First Real-World Corona Evidence

Scientists captured the first field evidence of coronae—ultraviolet glows at leaf tips—generated by charge buildup as storms pass over trees. In lab simulations and storm-intercept observations along the US East Coast, researchers logged 41 bursts lasting 0.1–3 seconds, emitting about 100 billion photons per frame at ~260 nm, across species including sweetgum, loblolly pine, maple, and spruce, suggesting a real, widespread electrical glow with potential implications for forest chemistry and how thunderstorms electrify in a warming climate.

via ScienceAlert|

#atmospheric-electricity #corona #science

science6 months ago•4 min saved

Eclipsed Turbulence: Tracing How the Sun's Corona Feeds the Solar Wind

A decade of eclipse-era observations by researchers at the University of Hawai'i reveals turbulent structures in the Sun's outer atmosphere that originate from prominences and survive as they travel outward with the solar wind, providing new clues to coronal heating and space-weather effects on Earth.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#corona #prominences #science

space7 months ago•55 min saved

Three solar prominences erupt in rare artificial-eclipse footage from ESA's Proba-3

ESA's Proba-3 mission captured a five-hour artificial eclipse, producing a time-lapse of three solar prominences erupting from the Sun's corona. By aligning the coronagraph with an occulter, scientists can study the sun’s faint outer atmosphere in unprecedented detail, combining Proba-3 data with NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory imagery. The prominences appear to erupt without the bright flares typical of solar explosions and are cooler than the million-degree corona, offering clues to why the corona is so hot and how these plasma eruptions contribute to solar activity.

via Live Science|

#artificial-eclipse #corona #proba-3