Plasmoids and sheaths mean success or failure for solar eruptions
Monday, April 18, 2011 - 14:31
in Astronomy & Space
Our Sun experiences regular eruptions of material into space, but solar physicists still have difficulty in explaining why these dramatic events take place. Now scientists think they have the answer: clouds of ionized gas (plasma) constrained by magnetic fields and known as ‘plasmoids’ that struggle to break free of the Sun’s magnetic field.