Thanks to extremely detailed images of the sun taken by [Swedish 1-meter Solar Telescope] SST and NASA's Transition Region and Coronal Explorer
(TRACE) satellite, British and American scientists recently found the answer to why the sun frequently throws tounges of hot gas, known as
"spicules", out into its atmosphere. The phenomena has been known since late 1800s, but was until now unexplained.
The spicules are supposedly caused by soundwaves running through the sun and the reaction can be compared to waves on a sea of water.
Read about it and see an example of the images on astronomy.com.
|