Researchers around the world are studying the sun to better understand its formation, evolution, and impact on Earth. To help explain longstanding mysteries of the sun’s plasma, a gas-like state of matter in which electrons and ions have separated, scientists turned to one of the world’s fastest supercomputers, Pleiades, located at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) facility, at Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. This video snapshot shows a simulated view from NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spacecraft flying above the solar surface at a height of over 6,000 miles, with a filter showing only light emitted by plasma at a temperature of about 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The sun's plasma, a super-hot mix of charged particles, move and create magnetic fields, which are churned up by the enormous heat produced by nuclear fusion at the center of the sun. The synthetic image is derived from numerical simulations that reveal how the sun’s magnetic field structures its atmosphere on fine scales.
Using images from IRIS, astrophysicists are producing simulations that may help explain how the outer solar atmosphere is shaped and heated. By combining numerical modeling with direct observation, the researchers are learning how magnetic fields generated in the sun’s interior affect its lower atmosphere, or chromosphere, which is the source of the ultraviolet radiation that reaches Earth.
For more information about the modeling and simulation work done on Pleiades and to view the simulation video, visit:http://www.nas.nasa.gov/publications/articles/feature_IRIS_Carlsson.html
Author: Michelle Moyer
NASA Advanced Supercomputing Facility
Ames Research Center
Image Credit: Mats Carlsson, University of Oslo
Media Contact: Kimberly Williams
Ames Research Center