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NASA Uncovers the Hidden Forces Behind the Sun’s Mysterious Moss

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Saturday, April 20, 2024

At the center of this image (left) from NASA’s High Resolution Coronal Imager sounding rocket is a small-scale, patchy structure on the Sun that solar physicists call “moss.” It forms low in the solar atmosphere around the center of sunspot groups on the Sun where magnetic activity is strong. An image from NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, mission shows a detailed scenery of the cooler roots of moss (right). Credit: NASA/Bose et al 2024NASA research has uncovered how electrical currents and tangled magnetic fields heat the Sun’s mossy regions from 10,000 to 1 million degrees Fahrenheit, aiding in understanding solar atmospheric heating.Did you know the Sun has moss? Due to its resemblance to the earthly plants, scientists have named a small-scale, bright, patchy structure made of plasma in the solar atmosphere “moss.” This moss, which was first identified in 1999 by NASA’s TRACE mission, blossoms around the center of a sunspot group, where magnetic conditions are strong. It straddles two atmospheric layers known as the chromosphere and corona and hides below the long feathery ropes of plasma known as coronal loops.Research on Solar MossFor decades, scientists have struggled to understand how this mossy region is connected to the Sun’s lower atmospheric layers and how material there is heated from 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit up to nearly 1 million degrees Fahrenheit — 100 times hotter than the bright surface just below. Now, research enabled by NASA’s High Resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C) sounding rocket and NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission have given scientists insights into the superheating mechanism at play in the moss. Advances in Understanding Solar HeatingObservations from these instruments combined with complex 3D simulations have now revealed that electrical currents may contribute to heating the moss. Throughout this region there is a mess of magnetic field lines, like invisible spaghetti. This tangle of magnetic spaghetti creates electrical currents that can help heat material to a wide range of temperatures from 10,000 to 1 million degrees Fahrenheit. This local heating in the moss appears to occur in addition to heat flowing from the hot, multi-million-degree overlying corona. This insight, published in the journal Nature Astronomy on April 15, can help scientists understand the larger question of why the Sun’s entire corona is so much hotter than the surface.Future Research and Missions“Thanks to the high-resolution observations and our advanced numerical simulations, we’re able to figure out part of this mystery that’s stumped us for the past quarter of a century,” said author Souvik Bose, a research scientist at Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory and Bay Area Environmental Institute, NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “However, this is just a piece of the puzzle; it doesn’t solve the whole problem.”For that, many more observations are needed. Some are coming soon: Hi-C is scheduled to launch again this month to capture a solar flare, and it may also capture another moss region together with IRIS. However, to obtain observations that can fully address how the corona and moss are heated, scientists and engineers are working to develop new instruments onboard the future MUlti-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) mission.IRIS and TRACE are part of NASA’s Explorers Program.Reference: “Chromospheric and coronal heating in an active region plage by dissipation of currents from braiding” by Souvik Bose, Bart De Pontieu, Viggo Hansteen, Alberto Sainz Dalda, Sabrina Savage and Amy Winebarger, 15 April 2024, Nature Astronomy.DOI: 10.1038/s41550-024-02241-8

NASA research has uncovered how electrical currents and tangled magnetic fields heat the Sun’s mossy regions from 10,000 to 1 million degrees Fahrenheit, aiding in...

Moss on Sun

At the center of this image (left) from NASA’s High Resolution Coronal Imager sounding rocket is a small-scale, patchy structure on the Sun that solar physicists call “moss.” It forms low in the solar atmosphere around the center of sunspot groups on the Sun where magnetic activity is strong. An image from NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, mission shows a detailed scenery of the cooler roots of moss (right). Credit: NASA/Bose et al 2024

NASA research has uncovered how electrical currents and tangled magnetic fields heat the Sun’s mossy regions from 10,000 to 1 million degrees Fahrenheit, aiding in understanding solar atmospheric heating.

Did you know the Sun has moss? Due to its resemblance to the earthly plants, scientists have named a small-scale, bright, patchy structure made of plasma in the solar atmosphere “moss.” This moss, which was first identified in 1999 by NASA’s TRACE mission, blossoms around the center of a sunspot group, where magnetic conditions are strong. It straddles two atmospheric layers known as the chromosphere and corona and hides below the long feathery ropes of plasma known as coronal loops.

Research on Solar Moss

For decades, scientists have struggled to understand how this mossy region is connected to the Sun’s lower atmospheric layers and how material there is heated from 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit up to nearly 1 million degrees Fahrenheit — 100 times hotter than the bright surface just below. Now, research enabled by NASA’s High Resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C) sounding rocket and NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission have given scientists insights into the superheating mechanism at play in the moss.

Advances in Understanding Solar Heating

Observations from these instruments combined with complex 3D simulations have now revealed that electrical currents may contribute to heating the moss. Throughout this region there is a mess of magnetic field lines, like invisible spaghetti. This tangle of magnetic spaghetti creates electrical currents that can help heat material to a wide range of temperatures from 10,000 to 1 million degrees Fahrenheit. This local heating in the moss appears to occur in addition to heat flowing from the hot, multi-million-degree overlying corona. This insight, published in the journal Nature Astronomy on April 15, can help scientists understand the larger question of why the Sun’s entire corona is so much hotter than the surface.

Future Research and Missions

“Thanks to the high-resolution observations and our advanced numerical simulations, we’re able to figure out part of this mystery that’s stumped us for the past quarter of a century,” said author Souvik Bose, a research scientist at Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory and Bay Area Environmental Institute, NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “However, this is just a piece of the puzzle; it doesn’t solve the whole problem.”

For that, many more observations are needed. Some are coming soon: Hi-C is scheduled to launch again this month to capture a solar flare, and it may also capture another moss region together with IRIS. However, to obtain observations that can fully address how the corona and moss are heated, scientists and engineers are working to develop new instruments onboard the future MUlti-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) mission.

IRIS and TRACE are part of NASA’s Explorers Program.

Reference: “Chromospheric and coronal heating in an active region plage by dissipation of currents from braiding” by Souvik Bose, Bart De Pontieu, Viggo Hansteen, Alberto Sainz Dalda, Sabrina Savage and Amy Winebarger, 15 April 2024, Nature Astronomy.
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-024-02241-8

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Cosmos

Idjanga, the Gorilla Forest

For more than fifteen years, Max Hurdebourcq, a solitary and passionate observer of gorillas, has been committed to the defence of the tropical forests of Central Africa. In particular, he is trying to find solutions to ensure a sustainable coexistence between forestry operators and the extraordinary wildlife that populates the forest concessions, veritable islands of biodiversity. At the CEB Precious Woods concession in southeast Gabon, Max is preparing for his latest exploration mission. His goal: to set up a refuge area for gorillas and local fauna within this area of nearly 6,000 km2. This is a first in Gabon, which has been imposing sustainable forest certification on operators active on its territory since 2018. This project, if it becomes a reality, could serve as an example throughout the Congo Basin. For Max, this would be the recognition and the outcome of his struggle. Anything but silent forests!

Animals
Nature

Dot

In the not-too-distant future, when depression and loneliness are rampant in modern lifestyles, human limbs have been bent by the extreme use of technological tools, and their field of vision has been limited to the digital screen in front of them. A young man who leads a regular and repetitive life, accidentally notices the beauty of nature and tries to see it again in different ways…

Animation
Technology
Nature

We Are Nature

We made this short film under lockdown conditions throughout the pandemic of Covid-19. The film argues that policies are not enough to prevent a future outbreak. We need a paradigm shift in how we view nature and the rest of life on this planet. The film was made remotely via zoom, a fact made clear in the style of the film. Our speakers appear on screens, which we filmed from inside our homes. Each speaker offers a different perspective on the origins of the pandemic in the ways we see and value nature. If humans can’t escape their connection to the natural world, it’s time for a better one. The health of us and the planet depends on it.

Health
Nature
Animals

Wild Florida's Vanishing Call

A moving, powerful inside look at what has happened to the wild, rarely seen, real Florida. A compelling, emotional soundtrack carries the viewer through the past destruction of wild Florida habitats, to beautiful scenes of Florida's rarely seen native wild animals, including the most endangered cat in North America, the Florida Panther, and ends with a positive message encouraging the viewer to work to protect Florida's wildlife and habitat before it is too late.

Animals
Nature
Music

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