Discovery of magnetic bright points in the quiet Sun

Intergranular bright point.
Intergranular bright point.
Advertised on
References
Astrophys.J. 609 (2004) L91-L94

Most of the solar surface seems to be non-magnetic. However, it carries a magnetic flux and energy that easily exceed those of sunspots, plage and network all together. The solar magnetism studied so far represents only the 'tip of the iceberg'. The rest, known as 'magnetism of the quiet Sun' is been studied and characterized. The solar physicists of the IAC have played a leading role in this characterization, and the paper this highlight refers to points out a good example.

Using the SST at the ORM, Sanchez Almeida et al. discovered, for the first time, magnetic bright points in the quiet Sun. They trace magnetic concentrations of field strength similar to sunspots, but covering at least 1% of the solar surface. Even during the solar maximum, sunspots just cover 0.1% of the solar surface, which implies that the quiet Sun magnetic concentrations contain far more magnetic flux than the sunspots.

Further reading,
http://cdsads.u-strasbg.fr/abs/2004ASPC..325..115S
http://cdsads.u-strasbg.fr/abs/2000ApJ...532.1215S
http://cdsads.u-strasbg.fr/abs/2003ApJ...585..536S
http://cdsads.u-strasbg.fr/abs/2003ApJ...582L..55D

News type
Research news

It may interest you

  • CLASP2 observation from the sounding rocket.
    Research news
    Mapping the Magnetic Field in the Chromosphere of Solar Active Regions
    The magnetic field in the solar chromosphere plays a key role in the heating of the outer solar atmosphere and in the build-up and sudden release of energy in solar flares. However, uncovering the magnetic field vector in the solar chromosphere is a difficult task because the magnetic field leaves its fingerprints in the very faint polarization of the light, which is far from easy to measure and interpret. We analyse the spectropolarimetric observations obtained with the Chromospheric Layer Spectropolarimeter on board a sounding rocket. This suborbital space experiment observed the near
    Advertised on
  • Asteroid reflectance spectra from Gaia DR3
    Research news
    Asteroid reflectance spectra from Gaia DR3: Near-UV in primitive asteroids
    Asteroids are the remnants of the planetary formation in the Solar System and so, their study helps us to understand the conditions during the early stages of the formation of our planetary system. Among asteroids, those classified as primitives present similar spectra to that of carbonaceous chondrites, i.e., they are rich in carbon and organic compounds and silicates altered by the presence of liquid water (phyllosilicates). Primitive asteroids are well characterized in various wavelength regions, showing their most diagnostic feature at 3μm. However, there is a lack of information in the
    Advertised on
  • Black Hole Swift J1727.8-162
    Research news
    Evidence for inflows and outflows in the nearby black hole transient Swift J1727.8-162
    The transient Swift J1727.8-162 is the latest member of the X-ray binary black hole family to be discovered. They are formed by a black hole and a low-mass star whose gas is stripped off and accreted to the black hole via an accretion disc. The high temperature of the accretion disc makes it shine in all energy bands up to X-rays, and is particularly bright during epochs known as outbursts. In this novel study, published just a few months after the discovery of the system, we present 20 epochs of optical spectroscopy obtained with the GTC-10.4m telescope. The spectra cover the main accretion
    Advertised on