Current telescopes take much longer to notify other observatories of a burst and hours more to obtain a location, if at all. The images of fiery solar features were introduced at a news briefing with American Museum of Natural History President Ellen Futter. This multimedia event was held at the museum's Rose Center for Earth and Space. Scientists discovered an important clue while observing immense coils of hot, electrified gas, known as coronal loops. Scientists are interested in the corona, which appears as a halo of light seen by the unaided eye during a total solar eclipse, because eruptive events in this region can disrupt high-technology systems on Earth.
Astronomers also hope to use the solar corona studies to better understand other stars.
Aschwanden is lead author of a paper describing this research to be published in the Astrophysical Journal. The new observations reveal the location of the unidentified energy source, showing that most of the heating occurs low in the corona, within about 10,000 miles from the Sun's visible surface. The gas fountains form arches, hundreds of thousands of miles high, capable of surrounding 30 Earths. As gas emerges from the solar surface, it's heated and rises, then cools and crashes back to the surface at more than 60 miles per second. An image from the country's newest environmental satellite is available online.