A study led by the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) has determined the origin of phenomena on the sun's magnetic surface, like solar spots and storms - a magnetic web that covers the entire corona. The web's magnetic flow is even greater than the magnetic flow of active areas on the sun's surface, according to a press release.
According to the study, the boundaries of the magnetic web match up to the boundaries of "supergranules." Supergranules are similar to bubbles in boiling water - except they are twenty thousand kilometers in diameter (almost 12,428 miles) and made by the gases found on the sun.
"We have discovered that inside these supergranules, in what is known as intranetwork, small magnetic elements appear which travel toward the outer boundaries and interact with the web," said lead researcher Milan Gosic, according to the press release.
Astronomers were thrilled that technology has allowed them to monitor the elements, but the big surprise came when they discovered the elements can generate and transfer the entire magnetic flow of the web - in less than 14 hours.
"Bearing in mind that only about 40% of this flow ends up on the web, we find that the intranetwork can replenish the flow of the web in twenty four hours," said research team member Luis Bellot, according to the press release.
"It is believed that the magnetic elements of the intranetwork and their interactions with the web might be responsible for the warming up of the outer layers of the Sun's atmosphere, one of the most pressing unsolved problems of solar physics," said Bellot, according to the press release.
The study was conducted with data collected from the high-resolution Japanese Hinode Telescope.
