Picture from November 2, 2010
Solar flux tubes, or spicules, are big "pipes" of hot gas on the sun held in place by its magnetic field. An average size spicule is about as wide as an average state in the US and as long as the Earth's diameter. This picture, one of the highest resolution of it's kind to date, depicts such spicules converging at a sunspot in the bottom right. The lifespan of a spicule was found to be about 5 minutes, after which the gas falls back to the sun's surface. How exactly these spicules come about is still a mystery, but remains an active topic of research. The sun's importance to life on Earth is unquestionable, so it would behoove us to study the sun as much as possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment