Researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA) have been hard at work studying the solar corona, the outermost atmosphere of the sun that expands into interplanetary space.
Researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA) have been hard at work studying the solar corona, the outermost atmosphere of the sun that expands into interplanetary space. The properties of the solar corona are a consequence of the Sun’s complex magnetic field, which is produced in the solar interior and extends outward into space.
IfA graduate student Benjamin Boe conducted a new study that used total solar eclipse observations to measure the shape of the coronal magnetic field with higher spatial resolution and over a larger area than ever before. The results were published in the Astrophysical Journal on June 3.
The corona is most easily seen during a total solar eclipse — when the moon is directly between the Earth and Sun, blocking sunlight. Significant technological advances in recent decades have shifted a majority of analysis to space-based observations at wavelengths of light not accessible from the ground, or to large ground-based telescopes such as the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope on Maui. Despite these advances, some aspects of the corona can only be studied during total solar eclipses.
Boe was advised by UH Mānoa Astronomy Professor Shadia Habbal, a coronal research expert. Habbal has led a group of eclipse chasers, the Solar Wind Sherpas making scientific observations during solar eclipses for more than 20 years. These observations have led to breakthroughs in unveiling some of the secrets of the physical processes defining the corona.
Read more at University of Hawaii at Manoa
Image: White-light images of the solar corona during the 2019 total solar eclipses in Chile. (Credit: Solar Wind Sherpas)
