Indian solar mission's new findings throw light on enduring Sun mysteries

What the report says

Scientists in India say new data from Aditya-L1, the country’s first mission dedicated to observing the Sun, has offered fresh clues to one of solar physics’ longest-running puzzles: why the Sun’s corona is far hotter than the visible surface. The BBC reports that the findings were published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and led by Prof R Ramesh of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bengaluru.

The study focuses on the corona, the Sun’s outer atmosphere, where temperatures can reach millions of degrees and where solar flares and coronal mass ejections originate. Those eruptions can create auroras but also disrupt satellites, communications and power systems on Earth. Researchers have long argued that two processes help keep the corona heated: waves produced by the Sun’s turbulent surface, and the snapping and reconnection of magnetic field lines in the atmosphere.

According to the paper described by BBC News, the team examined a strong coronal mass ejection recorded on 5 August 2024 using Aditya-L1’s Velc coronagraph. They say the evidence suggests magnetic reconnection provides the bulk of the energy needed to sustain the corona, while surface-driven waves contribute a much smaller share.

The researchers say this work gives an important reference point for future solar studies. More broadly, it adds to ongoing efforts to explain how the Sun repeatedly restores energy after major eruptions and why its outer layers behave in ways that still challenge standard physics models.