For decades, scientists have observed streams of plasma falling back toward the Sun’s surface — a phenomenon known as solar rain. What puzzled researchers was how these fiery downpours formed so quickly during solar flares.
A team from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has pinpointed the missing piece: the Sun’s atmosphere doesn’t stay constant, but changes in composition over time, creating the perfect storm for plasma rain.
Solar Rain: A Fiery Downpour
Unlike water rain on Earth, the Sun’s “rain” happens in its outermost layer, the corona. Here, intense heat creates blobs of cooler, heavier plasma that suddenly form and plummet back toward the Sun’s surface.
A team from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, led by graduate student Luke Benavitz and astronomer Jeffrey Reep, used…more
Source www.theweather.com
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