2007-06-07 | SCIENCE
Magnetic Field Uses Sound Waves to Ignite Sun's Ring of Fire

Research funded by the NSF and NASA has revealed that sound waves escaping the Sun's interior create fountains of hot gas that power the region of the Sun's atmosphere known as the chromosphere. The fountains also help answer a century-old question, why the Sun's chromosphere is hotter than the visible surface of the Sun itself. Using spacecraft, ground-based telescopes, and computer simulation, scientists have shown that the energy for this temperature difference is due to wave energy from the Sun's interior.

The chromosphere is familiar as the ring of light visible around the Moon during a solar eclipse. This region of the Sun's atmosphere is responsible for the deep UV radiation that bathes the Earth and produced our planet's ozone layer. Understanding the chromosphere is important because the UV radiation that it releases has a major connection to climate variability on Earth, and ultimately the habitability of our planet.

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