Scientists Detect Hidden Magnetic Waves That Could Explain the Sun’s Mysterious Heat

For the first time, scientists have detected long-sought magnetic waves driven by subsurface convection in the Sun’s atmosphere — a discovery that could help explain the mystery of why the solar wind is hotter than the surface from which it emanates. By employing the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope located in Hawaii, scientists observed twisting torsional Alfvén waves predicted to exist over 80 years ago. The discovery, reported in Nature Astronomy, provides the first direct evidence of these magnetic ripples — collectively known as Alfvénic waves — which could be constantly transporting energy through the Sun’s atmosphere and helping to heat it.

Breakthrough Observation of Twisting Magnetic Waves Reveals How the Sun’s Corona Stays Superheated

As per a Nature Astronomy report, the research was led by Professor Richard Morton of Northumbria University, whose team used the telescope’s advanced Cryogenic Near Infrared Spectropolarimeter (Cryo-NIRSP) to track motions in plasma heated to 1.6 million degrees Celsius. The telescope’s four-metre mirror — the largest of its kind — allowed scientists to capture subtle twisting motions that had previously gone undetected. Morton described the discovery as “the end of a decades-long search” for the missing mechanism behind coronal heating.

The waves, known as Alfvén waves — theorised in 1942 by the Nobel laureate Hannes Alfvén — travel through magnetic fields the way guitar strings vibrate. Larger examples connecting to solar flares had been observed in the past, but this is the first time scientists have spotted the smaller, ambient torsional type.

Morton’s team developed new analysis methods to separate these twisting motions from other plasma movements, revealing alternating red and blue patterns as the waves moved toward and away from Earth.

The discovery accounts for the million-degree heat of the corona and supports ideas linking magnetic turbulence to solar wind that blows past Earth. Supported by UKRI, China, and the EU, the international collaboration pushes forward research in solar energy andthe accuracy of space weather forecasts.