Scientists Finally Spot Hidden Waves Powering the Sun’s Corona

Elusive 'Alfvén Waves' Have Been Discovered in the Sun’s Corona, Ending Nearly a Century of Searching

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Scientists finally spot hidden waves powering the Sun’s corona

Researchers have directly observed torsional Alfvén waves twisting through the Sun’s corona — magnetic waves first predicted over 80 years ago. Captured using the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, these motions could explain why the corona is millions of degrees hotter than the Sun’s surface. The finding helps validate decades of solar physics theories and opens new paths to studying solar energy transfer.

Why is the Sun's outer layer hotter than its surface? 80-year-old Mystery solved

The discovery could explain how the corona’s temperature greatly exceeds that of the Sun’s surface, and identify a key driver of the solar wind.

Discovery of elusive solar waves that could power the Sun's corona

Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in solar physics by providing the first direct evidence of small-scale torsional Alfvén waves in the Sun's corona – elusive magnetic waves that scientists have been searching for since the 1940s.

Discovery of elusive solar waves that could power the Sun’s corona

Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in solar physics by providing the first direct evidence of small-scale torsional Alfvén waves in the Sun’s corona – elusive magnetic waves that scientists have been searching for since the 1940s. The discovery, published today in Nature Astronomy, was made using unprecedented observations from the world’s most powerful solar telescope, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Tele…