Sun's magnetic building blocks revealed by SUNRISE
Friday, November 12, 2010 - 10:31
in Astronomy & Space
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany have now for the first time uncovered and characterized the smallest building blocks of the Suns magnetic field. In these tiny regions of only a few hundred kilometres in diameter the strength of the magnetic field exceeds the Earths magnetic field strength by a factor of approximately 3,000. Researchers from the MPS, the Kiepenheuer-Institut for Solar Physics and further partner institutions analyzed data gathered last year with the help of the solar observatory Sunrise. Until now, no other solar telescope was able to determine the exact properties of these structures.