Image: Picturing the sun's magnetic field

Image: Picturing the sun’s magnetic field
Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA/LMSAL

This illustration lays a depiction of the sun's magnetic fields over an image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on March 12, 2016. The complex overlay of lines can teach scientists about the ways the sun's magnetism changes in response to the constant movement on and inside the sun.

Note how the magnetic fields are densest near the bright spots visible on the sun – which are magnetically strong active regions – and many of the field lines link one to another.

This magnetic map was created using the PFSS – Potential Field Source Surface – model, a model of the in the sun's atmosphere based on magnetic measurements of the solar surface. The underlying image was taken in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths of 171 angstroms. This type of light is invisible to our eyes, but is colorized here in gold.

Provided by NASA

Citation: Image: Picturing the sun's magnetic field (2016, March 16) retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2016-03-image-picturing-sun-magnetic-field.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Video: SDO sees tangled connections

13 shares

Feedback to editors