NASA To Explore "Secret Layer" of the Sun

SpaceAdmiral brings news that NASA will be launching a telescope next April, called Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph Investigation (SUMI), which will examine what is called the "transition region" between the Sun's corona and the chromosphere. Scientists have studied characteristics of the Sun around this region before, but never within it. NASA notes: "It is a place in the sun's atmosphere, about 5000 km above the stellar surface, where magnetic fields overwhelm the pressure of matter and seize control of the sun's gases. It's where solar flares explode, where coronal mass ejections begin their journey to Earth, where the solar wind is mysteriously accelerated to a million mph. It is, in short, the birthplace of space weather."

Comments

Obligatory Weak Joke

[ISoldat53]

I was going to say they should go at night.

Re:Obligatory Weak Joke

[philspear]

I was going to say they should respect the sun's privacy. We shouldn't be investigating parts of the sun where the sun don't shine.

Secret Layer?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sun: Welcome to my secret layer, Mr Powers, I've been expecting you.

Solar Probe Plus

[Geoffrey.landis]

It's worth a note that another upcoming NASA mission, Solar Probe Plus, will actually probe the corona, not just look at it.

See data and reports on Solar Probe Plus

Re:Solar Probe Plus

[fyoder]

Have we determined that the Sun is definitely not sentient?

Spock: She has sentience, Jim, but not as we know it. I would recommend you not have sex with this one.

Kirk: But Spock, she's so hot!

Spock: Yes, Jim. Too hot.

Kirk: I've yet to meet...

Spock: Don't make me nerve pinch you, Captain.

What if...

[Eternal Annoyance]

They filter out all light and suddenly discover there's a gigantic EULA on the surface of the sun?

Probe Me, Please

[Kesch]

"It is a place in the sun's atmosphere, about 5000 km above the stellar surface, where magnetic fields overwhelm the pressure of matter and seize control of the sun's gases. It's where solar flares explode, where coronal mass ejections begin their journey to Earth, where the solar wind is mysteriously accelerated to a million mph. It is, in short, the birthplace of space weather."

Did anyone else get aroused reading the summary?

I don't know about the rest of you, but the sun gets me pretty hot.

Re:Probe Me, Please

[Anonymous Coward]

"It is a place in the sun's atmosphere, about 5000 km above the stellar surface, where magnetic fields overwhelm the pressure of matter and seize control of the sun's gases. It's where solar flares explode, where coronal mass ejections begin their journey to Earth, where the solar wind is mysteriously accelerated to a million mph. It is, in short, the birthplace of space weather."

Did anyone else get aroused reading the summary?

I don't know about the rest of you, but the sun gets me pretty hot.

Did you have a coronal mass ejection?

Re:Traveling to the Secret Sun Layer.

[nelk]

To access the Secret Sun Layer, you must first kill Baal. After you have killed Baal (making sure the quest has been completed), you can access the Secret Sun Layer.

Or, for those of us who don't like waiting, up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A will get you there faster.

Cool screen backgrounds

[mikael]

I wonder if they will be able to get some more high resolution images like:

High resolution image of Solar Granulation

And some animations: Sun spot #1 Sun spot #2

Reminds me of an interesting site

[causality]

The Surface of the Sun. Viewed using a 171 angstrom filter, the sun appears to actually have a solid surface beneath the gas layers. It also seems to be electrically active. This is one of the more fascinating astronomy sites I've seen, mainly because they don't seem to start with a bias of "what we know can't be so". That always appeals to me, especially since "what we know is 100% impossible" is something that's been proven wrong, again and again, although that doesn't seem to stop anyone from asserting that this time we really have it right.

Re:Reminds me of an interesting site

[jessica_alba]

very interesting site, and layman friendly; it contains a link to a peer reviewed paper that is a good read and very understandable:
http://arxiv.org/ftp/astro-ph/papers/0511/0511379.pdf
The papers states:
a) The Sun and other stars act as plasma diffusers, sorting lighter atoms to their surfaces.

b) The interior of the Sun is made of common elements in rocky planets and meteorites â" Fe, Ni, O, Si, and S â" although the lightest elements (H and He) cover its surface.

c) Neutron-emission from the solar core, a neutron star, is the first step in a series of reactions that has steadily generated luminosity, neutrinos, solar mass fractionation, and an out-pouring of solar-wind hydrogen from the Sun over the past 4-5 Gy.

Re:Reminds me of an interesting site

[Tibor the Hun]

Warning, Electric Universe theory mentioned and referenced, as well as Plasma and Thunderbolt themes.

Pretty pictures though.

Re:Reminds me of an interesting site

[Anonymous Coward]

electric currents on the sun are a given (its a big ball of plasma), whether or not the sun gets its power from inter-galactic Birkland currents (which this site makes no such claim) has yet to be proven or dis-proven.