New research published in the journal Science has found that the Sun may be "more spirited" than scientists have previously thought, according to Phys.org. The researchers used data from NASA's IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectograph) telescope to reach their conclusion that the Sun may have "short-lived heat pockets" in its cooler layer.
Scientists have previously studied solar eruptions in the Sun's outer atmosphere, but the new study is the first evidence of explosions in the layer beneath the outer atmosphere. The magnetic energy in the Sun's cooler layer "builds up and discharges within only a few minutes" — but in that short time, the eruptions can be as hot as 100,000 degrees.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How Canadian tariffs could impact tourism to the USIn the Spotlight Canadians represent the largest group of foreign visitors to the United States. But they may soon stop visiting.
-
Entitlements: DOGE goes after Social SecurityFeature Elon Musk is pushing false claims about Social Security fraud
-
The Week contest: Amazon BondPuzzles and Quizzes
-
Pharaoh's tomb discovered for first time in 100 yearsSpeed Read This is the first burial chamber of a pharaoh unearthed since Tutankhamun in 1922
-
Scientists report optimal method to boil an eggSpeed Read It takes two temperatures of water to achieve and no fancy gadgets
-
Europe records big leap in renewable energySpeed Read Solar power overtook coal for the first time
-
Blue Origin conducts 1st test flight of massive rocketSpeed Read The Jeff Bezos-founded space company conducted a mostly successful test flight of its 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket
-
US won its war on 'murder hornets,' officials saySpeed Read The announcement comes five years after the hornets were first spotted in the US
-
Dark energy data suggest Einstein was rightSpeed Read Albert Einstein's 1915 theory of general relativity has been proven correct, according to data collected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
-
New DNA tests of Pompeii dead upend popular storiesSpeed Read An analysis of skeletal remains reveals that some Mount Vesuvius victims have been wrongly identified
-
NASA's Europa Clipper blasts off, seeking an oceanSpeed Read The ship is headed toward Jupiter on a yearslong journey
