Astronomers Are Stumped by New High-Frequency Wave on the Surface of the Sun [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Jennifer Leman - 7h ago

Astronomers have discovered a bizarre, new high-frequency wave on the surface of the sun.

These acoustic waves, which astronomers spotted within a dataset spanning 25 years of observations by both space and ground-based observatories, travel three times faster than predicted by current theory. On top of that, the waves also form vortices that swirl in the opposite direction of the sun’s rotation.

A team of researchers from New York University, New York University Abu Dhabi’s Center for Space Science, and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India, described the high-frequency retrograde (HFR) waves in a paper published March 24 to the journal Nature Astronomy.

Other types of waves are driven, in part, by magnetism, gravity, or convection, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with these newly discovered acoustic waves. Something else is powering them. (Curiously, similar high frequency waves have been observed in the ocean, the researchers explain, and atmospheric scientists have not yet uncovered their origins either.)

“If the HFR waves could be attributed to any of these three processes [gravity, magnetism, and convection], then the finding would have answered some open questions we still have about the Sun,” Chris S. Hanson, a research associate at New York University Abu Dhabi’s Center for Space Science said in a press statement. “However, these new waves don’t appear to be a result of these processes, and that’s exciting because it leads to a whole new set of questions.”

More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/astronomers-are-stumped-by-new-high-frequency-wave-on-the-surface-of-the-sun/ar-AAVDwc3?li=BBnb7Kz