Celestial Sound Waves Reveal Surprising Solar Changes

[Judi Lynn]

By Doris Elin Salazar, Staff Writer | July 10, 2017 07:00am ET


The celestial music released from the sun suggests that its outer layer has grown weaker over the years, according to new research from the United Kingdom.

The sun releases sound waves, and like a musical instrument, the structure of the sun informs the way the sound waves are shaped. Scientists can study the sun's oscillations by listening to the frequencies that make up the sound signal, thereby learning something about the object making the sound. Because the waves are generated by and pass through different sections of the sun, the wave frequency reveals clues about the inside of the sun and allows scientists to chart changes in the star's life.

Scientists from the Birmingham Solar-Oscillations Network at the University of Birmingham, in the United Kingdom, used the sun's sound waves to determine that one of its outermost layers may be growing thinner. [How the Sun's Magnetic Field Works (Infographic)]

Tracking the waves

The sun, like Earth, has different layers. One of the outermost layers is a few hundred kilometers wide, according to NASA, and is made up of plasma. The sun's plasma is a tremendously hot mix of separated electrons and ions, which means they are charged and naturally create magnetic fields. Plasma churns and pulls in different directions around the sun, and the enormous heat produced by the nuclear fusion at the core plays along these currents to create magnetic fields.

More:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=termsofservice

[Warpy]

1. Linkie?

[4139]

2. Linke here...

https://www.space.com/37426-celestial-sound-waves-surprising-solar-changes.html