The Dynamic Solar Magnetic Field with Introduction

NASA Scientific Visualization Studio
NASA Scientific Visualization Studio
34.3 هزار بار بازدید - 6 سال پیش - While the sun is well
While the sun is well known as the overwhelming source of visible light in our solar system, a substantial part of its influence is driven by some aspects less visible to human perception - the magnetic field.

In this visualization we start a view of the Sun in visible light (similiar to what you would see from the ground on Earth), to a view in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths (only visible to space-based instruments) which shows hot plasma streaming along magnetic field lines, to a magnetogram (derived from the visible light data) and finally to a three-dimensional magnetic field model built from that data.   The sphere represents the solar photosphere, with neutral grey indicating a magnetic field of near zero intensity, black representing a magnetic field pointing INTO the sun (south or negative polarity) and white representing a magnetic field pointing OUT of the sun (north or positive polarity).  We see that these magnetic regions often appear in nearby pairs of opposite polarities - which in visible light would often correspond to a pair of sunspots.

Most of the solar photosphere has a magnetic field intensity of a few gauss while the active regions which form around sunspots can have magnetic fields of a few thousand gauss.  Modern space-based instruments such as HMI (Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) enable us to measure the intensity of the magnetic field at the visible surface of the sun.  

Using this measured magnetic field on the photosphere, combined with mathematical models based on Maxwell's equations and plasma physics, we can construct how the magnetic field would look  above  the photosphere.  Here, the white magnetic field lines are considered 'closed'. They move up, and then return to the solar surface.  We often see these closed lines associated with pairs of active regions on the sun.  The green and violet lines represent field lines that are considered 'open'. Green represents positive magnetic polarity, and violet represents negative polarity. These field lines do not connect back to the sun but with more distant magnetic fields in space.

Here we build one of the simpler magnetic field models, called Potential Field Source Surface or PFSS, to construct how the magnetic 'lines of force' might look above the sun.  The PFSS model represents the simplest and most steady magnetic field possible, though here we sample the field each day to illustrate the slow changes of the magnetic structure over time, in this case between January 1, 2011 through December 30, 2014.


Visualizer: Tom Bridgman (lead)

For more information or to download this public domain video, go to  https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4623#24684
6 سال پیش در تاریخ 1396/12/21 منتشر شده است.
34,345 بـار بازدید شده
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