Magnetic field maps of the sun’s corona | Science & Technology

The Corona: The Launch Pad of Space Weather

The Sun’s magnetic field generates regions in the Sun’s atmosphere, often rooted by sunspots, that store vast amounts of energy that fuel explosive solar storms and drive space weather. The corona, the Sun’s outer atmosphere, is a superheated realm where these magnetic mysteries unfold. Mapping coronal magnetic fields is essential to understanding and predicting space weather — and to protect our technology in Earth and space.

Why It Matters

Earth’s magnetic field shields us from solar winds, protecting our atmosphere, and making life possible. However, the electromagnetic fields and energetic particles from extreme solar eruptions can disrupt satellites, power grids, and other systems we need in our increasingly technological society. Understanding these dynamic interactions, which change on timescales ranging from days to centuries, is crucial for safeguarding our infrastructure and current way of life.

Measuring the corona’s magnetic properties has long challenged astronomers and the limits of technology. Today, the Inouye Solar Telescope is the most advanced facility designed to study the corona, and has made a crucial first step in resolving these mysteries by producing its first coronal magnetic field maps — the most detailed to date.

The Inouye Solar Telescope’s First Maps of the Corona’s Magnetic Field

Since the 1950s, solar physicists have mapped the magnetic fields on the Sun’s surface,…