Scientists Baffled By New Type Of Wave In The Sun That Travels Extremely Fast

Something strange is happening to the Sun. A few waves in the Sun are travelling way faster than they should be.

Scientists recently discovered a weird type of wave that travels backwards through Sun's plasma. Chris Hanson at New York University Abu Dhabi and his teammates found "high-frequency retrograde vorticity waves" based on data from ground and space-based telescopes over the last few decades.

File Photo

What are these solar waves?

These waves have many small vortices that travel around the Sun in the direction opposite to its rotation, New Scientist explained.?The strange thing is that these vortices move around the Sun thrice as fast as other waves that are similar. No current models of plasma movement can explain the phenomenon.

An artistic impression of the high-frequency retrograde (HFR) vorticity waves:

NYU Abu Dhabi

Scientists had three possible explanations for these erratic waves: that they were caused by Sun's magnetic field; that they emanate from gravity waves in the Sun; or that plasma's compression is making these waves. Unfortunately, none of these hypotheses were in sync with the data.

Also read:?Indian Scientists Solve Mystery Of Plasma Jets Erupting Over Sun’s Atmosphere

What does this mean? According to Hanson, this implies that "we are missing an ingredient in our understanding of the Sun." Hanson added that the discovery of new waves is "exciting and intriguing, because the challenge now remains to explain what they are."

B&H

Hanson believes that a combination of magnetism, gravity, and compression is producing these waves that cannot be explained.?By comparing the HFRs to a similar type of wave in Earth's ocean called Rossby waves, scientists may be able to find a new clue in the near-future.

Also read:?ISRO Scientists Use Mangalyaan Mars Orbiter To Predict Sun’s Corona Behaviour

What do you think about these strange solar waves? Let us know in the comments below.?For more in the world of?technology?and?science, keep reading?Indiatimes.com.

References

Staff, S. X. (2022b, March 24). Researchers discover a mysterious type of wave in the sun with unexplained speed. Phys.Org.?

Crane, L. (2022, March 24). Strange waves in the sun are travelling far faster than they should be. New Scientist.?