Why the corona and the photosphere of stars have different compositions is one of the long standing open questions in astrophysics. Researchers from UiO and six other research institutes and universities, and the WaLSA international working group, have come up with some answers in a worldwide cooperation.
Read the Titan article Unlocking the mysteries of the Solar Atmosphere.
The scientists
The research was led by scientists from UCL/MSSL and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and involved seven research institutes and universities, including the University of Oslo, and the WaLSA (Waves in the Lower Solar Atmosphere) international working group, bringing together a number of different and complementary expertises necessary to exploit data at different layers in the solar atmosphere.
The results of this study are now published in the Astrophysical Journal and the special issue of the Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society A.
Links to the papers :
Alfvenic Perturbations in a Sunspot Chromosphere Linked to Fractionated Plasma in the Corona