National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Sun's "Ring of Fire" Stoked by Sound Waves


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Ruby-red features around a total solar eclipse are evidence of the sun's chromosphere, a thin layer of the atmosphere above the star's visible surface.

For decades scientists have been puzzled by the fact that the chromosphere is hotter than the sun's surface. New research suggests that the region gets its heat when magnetic fields allow sound waves to shoot out of the sun's interior.

Image courtesy NASA/UCAR/NCAR/High Altitude Observatory