NJIT Physicists Pinpoint Sun's Magnetic Dynamo 200,000 km Below Surface Using 30 Years of Acoustic Data
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Summary
NJIT physicists analyzed nearly three decades of solar acoustic data (helioseismic observations) and found evidence that the Sun's magnetic dynamo — the engine driving its 11-year solar cycles and eruptive events — operates approximately 200,000 kilometers beneath the solar surface. This discovery pinpoints the location of the solar dynamo, which generates the magnetic fields responsible for sunspots and solar activity cycles, resolving a long-standing mystery about where the Sun's magnetic field originates.
Key quotes
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Every eleven years, the Sun's magnetic field flips. Sunspots — dark, cooler regions on the Sun's surface that mark intense magnetic activity and often trigger solar eruptions —appear at mid-latitudes and migrate toward the star's equator in a butterfly-shape pattern before fading as the cycle resets.
In an analysis of nearly three decades of solar acoustic data, NJIT physicists report evidence that the solar dynamo — the magnetic engine powering the Sun’s 11-year cycles and eruptive events — operates nearly 200,000 kilometers beneath the Sun’s surface
