Scientists 'see' flux rope formation for the first time
Wednesday, April 3, 2013 - 09:01
in Astronomy & Space
(Phys.org) —Naval Research Laboratory scientists have observed, for the very first time, the formation of solar flux ropes, which are a type of solar magnetic field. Models of flux ropes have been drawn by theorists in the past, but scientists had never before observed them at the time they formed. The NRL team made their discovery using high-resolution images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) aboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and from the NRL-developed Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI) telescopes aboard NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO).