Evidence found of magnetic reconnection generating spicules on the sun
An international team of researchers has found evidence that magnetic reconnection is the source of spicules on the sun's surface. In their article in the journal Science, the group describes their study of the sun and what they have learned about it.
Scientists have known about the production of spicules on the surface of the sun since 1877, but despite much research, their origin has remained a mystery. In this new effort, the researchers believe that they have finally found the answer, thanks to the Goode Solar Telescope, a new very high resolution solar telescope.
Spicules are small jets of solar plasma that burst over the entire surface of the sun. Each one lasts only a few minutes, which makes their study very difficult. Scientists have been wondering for some time if they do not hold the key to the mystery that explains why the solar corona is much warmer than its surface. To find possible answers, the researchers used the Goode Solar Telescope to get the best possible overview. They found something they had never observed before - just before a spicule erupted, a spot formed on the surface of the sun at the same place as a magnetic field that was inverted from the area around it. This suggests that spicules may form due to magnetic reconnection, in which clashes occur between regions with opposing magnetic field lines. In such shocks, magnetic energy is converted into kinetic energy and heat. On the sun, this heat and energy could be responsible for the formation of spicules.
Curious to know if spicular eruptions may be part or all of the reason why the corona is much warmer than the surface, researchers turned to data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, a satellite in Earth orbit equipped with solar observation equipment. By comparing data from the Goode telescope showing the same part of the sun at the same time, the spicule under study exploded - the researchers observed a glow of charged iron atoms appearing directly above the spicule's location. They note that such a glow indicates that the plasma in the spicule had reached a temperature of at least 1 million degrees centigrade.
