The Science behind Solar Spicules

Recently, a team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), unravelled the science behind the jets of plasma in the Sun’s chromosphere.

• Chromosphere is the atmospheric layer just above the Sun's visible surface.

Key Findings

• Analogy: The researchers explained the origin of ‘spicules’ on the Sun, using laboratory experiments as an analogy. They found that the physics underlying paint jets when excited on a speaker is analogous to the solar plasma jets.
• A bass speaker responds to excitation at low frequencies like the rumbling sounds heard in movies. When a ....