Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Astronomers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), an autonomous institution of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have, in a breakthrough, found hidden miniature plasma loops that may help unravel the Sun’s deepest mysteries. The loops are small and short-lived, and have, till date, stayed hidden, but these may reveal how the Sun stores and unleashes magnetic energy, said researchers at the IIA.
The coronal loops, found in the Sun’s outer layer, are arc-like, beautiful structures of hot plasma that glow at a temperature over a million degrees. Their miniature counterparts are about 3,000-4,000 kilometres long (roughly the distance from Kashmir to Kanyakumari).
However, they have a width of fewer than 100 kilometres, making them challenging to study. They stay hidden in the lower layers of the Sun’s atmosphere and were mostly unresolved by earlier telescopes. To catch these elusive structures in action, astronomers at the IIA used high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy.
“These tiny loops live fast – and die young, lasting only a few minutes, making it extremely difficult to observe them and interpret their physical origins,” said Annu Bura, a doctoral student at IIA. “Although they are small, these loops punch above their weight when it comes to understanding the Sun. They offer a new window into how magnetic energy is stored and released in the solar atmosphere on small scales,” she added.
