A New Kind of Explosion on the Sun

  • Released Tuesday, December 17, 2019
  • Updated Thursday, July 30, 2020 at 9:45AM
  • ID: 13422

In the scorching upper reaches of the Sun’s atmosphere, the corona, scientists have just seen a new type of magnetic explosion. Known as forced or controlled magnetic reconnection, this process occurs when a nearby eruption causes tangled magnetic field lines to explosively snap and realign, flinging out particles and energy. The discovery may help scientists understand a key mystery about the Sun’s atmosphere.


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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center


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