The SDO spacecraft has just seen massive eruption on the Sun, one of the largest of several years
this part, "says Lika Guhathakurta of NASA" .. the movie is not only dramatic, but allowed us
solve a longstanding mystery of solar physics "
Not later than one week ago, NASA scientists working SDO with the probe were released movies more exciting than ever have been able to see now are repeated.
"The probe has SDO just observed massive eruption on the Sun, one of the largest for several years now, "says Lika Guhathakurta of NASA" the movie is not only dramatic, but it has solved a longstanding mystery of solar physics. "
Karel Schrijver, Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory analysis continues: "We can see a billion tons of magnetized plasma and is shot into space, the explosion with debris falling on the surface of the Sun These are our best information so far .
The movie covers four hours and spatial extension of more than 100,000 km: "It 's huge," says Schrijver and in fact our planet could well find a place between the two jets of plasma and still remain space around.
Astronomers have observed similar explosions before, but rarely so extensive and ever with this fluidity of details. As a member of a team of scientists, Alan Title, Lockheed Martin has pointed out that "no altrotelescopio can reach a combined spatial and temporal resolution as that of SDO probe.
Schrijver said that the party would prefer the movie is that of coronal rain and explains that "lump of plasma are falling on the surface of the Sun and create white spots where the strike: it is a phenomenon that I have been studying for years "(pictured alongside two lumps are indicated by two white circles).
Above: a video of the eruption with the temperatures encoded with different colors. Orange and red areas are "cold" (from 60,000 to 80,000 ° K), blue and green areas but they are "hot" (from 1 million to 2,200,000 ° K). As mentioned already, there is a whisker of dust on the CCD camera. Movie SDO / AIA.
The coronal rain has been for a long time un mistero. Non è strano che il plasma possa ricadere sulla superficie del Sole, dato che in quella zona la gravità è veramente forte. La cosa strana però è la lentezza con cui sembra ricadere la pioggia coronale. E si domanda “L’attrazione gravitazionale del Sole dovrebbe attirare il materiale più velocemente di quando effettivamente accada: cos’é che rallenta la discesa?”. Per la prima volta la sonda SDO fornisce una risposta!
Schrijver dice che “la pioggia sembra essere mantenuta a galla da un “cuscino” di gas bollente. Osservazioni precedenti non l’avevano mostrato, ma effettivamente è lì presente”.
Una delle capacità aggiuntive SDO probe is the ability to measure temperatures. Taking advantage of an array of ultraviolet telescopes called AIA (Atmospheric Imaging Assembly), the observatory can remotely measure the temperature of the gas in the solar atmosphere. The coronal rain would be relatively cold, with just 60,000 ° K (degrees Kelvin are: to get the value in 273 ° C should be subtracted, but the result is virtually identical). When it falls, the rain is supported in part by a cushion material beneath warmer, with temperatures between 1 million and 2,200,000 ° K (ie the same consideration as above!)
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"You see this hot gas in movie where the temperature is coded with different colors, "said Schrijver" The cold material is red, while the material is hotter than blue-green and it's the hottest gas to slow the descent of coronal rain. "
Dick Fisher, responsible for NASA's Division of Heliophysical in Washington, working on solar physics for 40 years. "In all these years, he enthuses, I've never seen anything like it."
"And I wonder what it will take us next week!
Original article: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/27apr10_plasmarain/
Source: www.segnidalcielo.it
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