nasa NASA solves 30-year solar puzzle with 5 minutes and $5 million

[Crisp]

NASA solves 30-year solar puzzle with 5 minutes and $5 million

The full resolution image is from the solar active region, outlined in the upper left image. Below it are partial frame images

of the braided ensemble, an example of magnetic recognition and flaring, and fine stranded loops. A portion of a filament channel

is shown in the upper right image. (NASA)

Scientists have taken the highest resolution images of the sun?s atmosphere ever, and it offers an explanation for the decades-old mystery of why its outer most layer is up to 800 times hotter than its surface.

Using photos from the High Resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C) that was flung into space in July, scientists observed small bands of magnetism near the star?s surface twist, turn and braid together before snapping apart, releasing heat and energy flares that heated up the star?s atmosphere. NASA officials described their findings Wednesday.

The sun?s surface is a relatively cool 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit while its atmosphere, or corona, is between 2 million and 4 million degrees. The disparity has long puzzled scientists who study our nearest star.

With a $5-million budget, scientists designed, built and launched a 464-pound, 10-foot telescope into space from White Sands, N.M., in July. The telescope was outside of the atmosphere for only five minutes before it returned to Earth. But in those few minutes, the telescope took high-resolution images of the corona, revealing what the sun?s magnetic fields were doing on a local scale. NASA scientists likened that to taking a high-resolution photo of a dime from 10 miles away.

The images showed how the relatively small magnetic fields braid together into unbearable tension, then snap apart in flares that can be as hot as 7 million degrees. The images supported a theory first introduced in 1983 by American astrophysicist Eugene Parker that small solar flares were heating up the sun?s outer most layer.

?Sometimes this small-scale process stalls, extra stress builds up, and then the relaxation happens on a much larger scale, causing a flare or coronal mass ejection,? said Karel Schrijver, who worked on the mission and is a senior fellow at Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto.

A coronal mass ejection is a violent, massive burst of gas and magnetic fields from the sun. When the explosions are aimed toward Earth, they have been known to knock out power grids and damage satellites. But they can also bring on some pretty sweet northern lights, or Aurora Borealis.

?The flaring on the small scales and on the large scales all happen together,? Schrijver said. ?To understand why the solar corona behaves as it does, we need to see both the small and the large to understand how they connect, and ultimately drive space weather.?

Hi-C is part of NASA?s Low Cost Access to Space Program, which uses smaller-scale missions for science investigations, to test future technologies and train upcoming researchers students and engineers. The photos were shot near the peak of the sun?s 11-year cycle, offering scientists their best shot at photographing its smallest flares, researchers said.

Source

[+virtorio MVC]

That would make a great skybox texture for a new Doom game.

[+DKAngel Subscriber²]

now that is really cool =]

[Soldiers33]

and how would they know how hot the core of the sun is? This makes no sense. Unless they physcially measured the temprature inside the sun then I call this bs.Its like me looking at a lightbulb I cant reach and saying the surface is hotter than the core becuase I took very high resolution images.

[Shaun N.]

5 million for that?

[LOC Veteran]

now that is really cool =]

No that's pretty hot actually. :D

[majortom1981]

5 million for that?

Most of that money probably was for the launching it past the atmosphere.

[HawkMan]

and how would they know how hot the core of the sun is? This makes no sense. Unless they physcially measured the temprature inside the sun then I call this bs.Its like me looking at a lightbulb I cant reach and saying the surface is hotter than the core becuase I took very high resolution images.

Ah, so you're an astro physicist, and know all about how they measure these things.?

[George P Global Moderator]

Most of that money probably was for the launching it past the atmosphere.

Yeah, sending things up to space isn't cheap.

[FloatingFatMan]

and how would they know how hot the core of the sun is? This makes no sense. Unless they physcially measured the temprature inside the sun then I call this bs.Its like me looking at a lightbulb I cant reach and saying the surface is hotter than the core becuase I took very high resolution images.

Spectography and mathematics.

[_neutrino Veteran]

still very cool that you can take a picture of the sun and see texture on it while just looking at it can hurt you.

[spacer]

The telescope was outside of the atmosphere for only five minutes before it returned to Earth.

Is anyone else confused by this statement? They launched a satellite that only flew for 5 minutes? Did it malfunction? Was it only supposed to last 5 minutes? If so, that seems like a huge waste of money.

and how would they know how hot the core of the sun is? This makes no sense. Unless they physcially measured the temprature inside the sun then I call this bs.Its like me looking at a lightbulb I cant reach and saying the surface is hotter than the core becuase I took very high resolution images.

The same way scientists can look at stars thousands of light-years away and be able to tell how big it is, whether it's a binary system, what it's made out of, and among many other things, how hot it is...math, trig, and physics.

Also, the photos solved the mystery of why the Sun's atmosphere is way hotter than the surface. Nothing about the article references the core.

[HawkMan]

Weather balloons are technically satellites, a satellite isn't necessarily in space. The earliest satellites where balloons used to transmit radio waves.

Basically the satellite in question was never launched even close to high enough to reach orbit, only to grout side the visually disturbing atmosphere. To get in orbit it would have cost 100 times just to launch, andthen the satellite would have had to be designed to actually stay in spaces well. Instead of just get there and take pictures and return. So it would have cost 100 times as much as well, maybe more.

This one did what they needed for cheap. And served as a technology tested for future in space technology/satellite. Replacing tests that would have cost at least a much.

[watkinsx2]

To get in orbit it would have cost 100 times just to launch

Falcon 9 is only 50 odd million to orbit but still a lot more money.

[Soldiers33]

Ah, so you're an astro physicist, and know all about how they measure these things.?

so you believe everything they say? They could be chatting rubbish but no one can prove it so everyone believes it.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

and how would they know how hot the core of the sun is? This makes no sense. Unless they physcially measured the temprature inside the sun then I call this bs.Its like me looking at a lightbulb I cant reach and saying the surface is hotter than the core becuase I took very high resolution images.

Physics, Doppler Effect, mathematics. read up on it sometime. it's fascinating!

[LOC Veteran]

so you believe everything they say? They could be chatting rubbish but no one can prove it so everyone believes it.

Do the math and science, you can prove it yourself. Unless you don't believe in math and science of course.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

so you believe everything they say? They could be chatting rubbish but no one can prove it so everyone believes it.

but anyone can easily prove it using the facts i posted above.

[HawkMan]

Obviously all scientists and astro physicists are working together in a massive conspiracy to make us believe they know the temperature of the sun. Because... That would make so much sense.

Wy would they fake this info and why would they have a global conspiracy to hide it, and why would thousands of scientists be in on it. Way do they do to the ones who refuse....

[linsook]

Soldiers33 is just trolling. Nobody can be that daft.

[DocM]

Yes they can when it comes to nuclear energy and physics.

We also know because the sun is a giant thermonuclear reactor, and we have caused thermonuclear reactions on Earth (thermonuclear explosions, inertially confined fusion etc.) and measured the thermal output per cubic volume. Apply math.

[Soldiers33]

Obviously all scientists and astro physicists are working together in a massive conspiracy to make us believe they know the temperature of the sun. Because... That would make so much sense.

Wy would they fake this info and why would they have a global conspiracy to hide it, and why would thousands of scientists be in on it. Way do they do to the ones who refuse....

No im not trolling im being serious and also what good would it do to know how hot it is and why its so hot? I see no reason for spending so much time and money just to find useless information.

[HawkMan]

How exactly do you expect us to achieve fusion reactors if we don't understand how fusion works.

[HSoft]

5 million for that?

Yeah, that's extremely cheap isn't it, compared to other methods.