NASA To Explore "Secret Layer" of the Sun

Posted by Soulskill on Friday September 5, 2008 @11:03AM from the don't-forget-your-metaphasic-shields dept.

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."

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Re:Obligatory Weak Joke by philspear · 2008-09-05 11:19 · Score: 5, Funny

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.
Re:Solar Probe Plus by fyoder · 2008-09-05 11:58 · Score: 5, Funny

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.

--
Loose lips lose spit.