All articles tagged with #helioseismology
New research proposes the Sun’s lithium-poor surface and discrepancies in the interior’s sound speed could be explained if the young Sun swallowed a rocky super-Earth about 5–6 times Earth’s mass, stirring its insides. The model reproduces known solar features like convection-zone depth and composition, and while not proven, it suggests a detectable fingerprint of such engulfment may exist for future observations.
Eight minutes after leaving the Sun’s surface, sunlight reaches Earth, but the energy inside each photon spent 10,000–170,000 years zigzagging through the Sun’s dense core via countless absorption-and-reemission events; neutrinos escape in about two seconds, revealing the core’s workings, while the outer radiative and convective zones, and the photosphere, shape the final journey of energy to us.
Scientists mapped magnetic polarity on the sun's far side for the first time by analyzing tiny shifts in helioseismic waves and using Hale’s polarity law, enabling magnetic maps of regions not directly visible from Earth and potentially improving early warnings of solar eruptions as they rotate into view.
Scientists have discovered that the sun's magnetic field likely originates from instabilities in the plasma across the outermost layers of the solar surface, rather than deep within the star. This finding, based on complex computer simulations and helioseismology data, could improve predictions of solar flares and storms, which can impact Earth's technology and infrastructure. The study, published in Nature, challenges the prevailing focus on deep solar dynamo action and suggests that surface perturbations play a crucial role in magnetic field formation.
Scientists have discovered a new theory to explain the Sun's differential rotation, which involves long-period oscillations of sound waves in the solar convection zone. These oscillations, detected as swirling motions around the poles, limit the temperature difference between the poles and the equator, ultimately controlling the Sun's bizarre rotation. The relationship between the oscillations and the differential rotation goes both ways, with the oscillations curbing the rotation. This finding could provide insights into the dynamics of other stars as well.
Scientists have discovered that long-period high-latitude oscillations in the sun's convection zone play a crucial role in controlling the sun's differential rotation. These oscillations, observed through helioseismology, carry heat from the solar poles to the equator, limiting the temperature difference between the two to less than seven degrees. This small temperature difference influences the sun's global dynamics and is an important feedback mechanism. The study, published in Science Advances, sheds light on the physics of these oscillations and their role in the sun's workings, providing valuable insights for future research.
Scientists propose using gravitational waves to probe the interior of the Sun, which is too hot and dense for light to penetrate. Asymmetrical spinning neutron stars produce continuous streams of gravitational waves, which can be used to study the Sun's density profile. The Sun's gravitational mass lenses the waves as they pass through it, allowing for accurate measurements. Hundreds of fast-rotating neutron stars pass behind the Sun each year, providing an opportunity to observe their gravitational waves and gain insight into our closest star.