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GREENBELT, Maryland \u2014 After more than a century of studying the Sun\u2019s outer atmosphere, scientists are beginning to uncover how the star transfers enormous amounts of energy from its turbulent surface into the superheated corona, a mystery that has challenged solar physics since the nineteenth century. Early eclipse observers discovered that the faint corona surrounding the Sun behaves nothing like the visible surface below it: while the photosphere is approximately 5,500 degrees Celsius, parts of the corona reach temperatures of more than one million degrees.<\/p>\n
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That apparent violation of everyday expectations\u2014heat increasing with distance from its source\u2014became known as the coronal-heating problem. New high-resolution measurements from modern solar observatories now indicate that the missing energy may be delivered through a combination of tangled magnetic fields, rapid waves, and countless miniature eruptions occurring too quickly and on scales too small for earlier telescopes to resolve. The dark cavity shown in the accompanying viral thumbnail is not a newly discovered hole, doorway, or artificial structure inside the Sun. It resembles an enhanced view of a coronal hole, a real region where the Sun\u2019s magnetic field opens outward into space and allows fast-moving solar wind to escape.<\/p>\n
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Coronal holes appear dark in extreme-ultraviolet images because their plasma is cooler and less dense than surrounding material, not because a piece of the Sun is missing. Scientists believe that constant motion in the photosphere twists and braids magnetic-field lines until they suddenly reconnect, releasing stored energy as heat and accelerating charged particles. Some of these events may occur as \u201cnanoflares,\u201d individually far weaker than major solar flares but potentially powerful enough in combination to maintain the corona\u2019s extreme temperature.<\/p>\n
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Other observations show Alfv\u00e9n waves\u2014magnetic disturbances traveling through solar plasma\u2014carrying energy upward before partially converting it into heat. NASA\u2019s Parker Solar Probe has traveled repeatedly through the Sun\u2019s outer atmosphere, detecting sharp magnetic reversals called switchbacks and directly sampling the particles that become the solar wind. Meanwhile, Solar Orbiter and ground-based observatories have revealed tiny jets, rapidly changing loops, and small-scale magnetic activity across the solar surface. These discoveries suggest that the corona is not heated by one simple mechanism; several processes may work together, with their importance varying across active regions, quiet areas, and coronal holes.<\/p>\n
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Understanding this hidden energy system is not merely an academic challenge. Magnetic reconnection can trigger solar flares and coronal mass ejections capable of disrupting satellites, radio communications, navigation systems, and electrical grids on Earth. More accurate knowledge of how energy accumulates and escapes could therefore improve space-weather forecasting. NASA has not announced that the Sun contains an unknown object or that scientists have found evidence of intelligence within it.<\/p>\n