The three biggest mysteries of the Sun that still baffle astrophysicists

Despite significant progress in the study of the Sun over the past decades, scientists still face several unsolved mysteries of our star that they are seeking to solve through current and future missions.

Launching satellites into space has allowed scientists to significantly expand their knowledge of the Sun. They saw it for the first time in the ultraviolet and X-ray ranges, which revealed many new phenomena. Although many early observations have been explained, some of the Sun’s mysteries are still waiting to be solved.

One of the biggest mysteries is the problem of heating the solar coronaThe Sun's corona — the outer atmosphere of the Sun, which extends millions of kilometers into space. The Sun’s outer atmosphere has a temperature of approximately 1 million degrees Celsius, while its surface is only 5500 degrees. This contradicts the intuitive understanding that the atmosphere should be colder than the surface. Scientists are trying to figure out how energy is transferred from the surface to the Sun’s atmosphere.

Another mystery is related to the Sun’s internal dynamoThe Sun's dynamo is a mechanism that generates the Sun's magnetic field through the motions of plasma in its inner layers. and its 11-year activity cycle. Although the general mechanism of the cycle is understood, the details of the internal processes that control the Sun’s magnetic field remain unclear. Scientists are particularly interested in why solar activity peaks have different intensities in different cycles.

The third important problem is predicting solar flares and coronal mass ejectionsCoronal mass ejections are huge emissions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun's corona. mass. These phenomena affect space weather and can disrupt Earth’s infrastructure. Current forecasts are probabilistic, and scientists are seeking to understand the mechanisms that trigger these events to improve the accuracy of predictions.

Numerous space missions and ground-based telescopes are used to solve these mysteries. NASA, ESA, Japan, India, and China have launched satellites to study the Sun. Ground-based observatories, including the largest solar telescope, the Inouye Solar Telescope, also play an important role in research.

Source: Space