Scientists have discovered twisting magnetic waves on the sun, a breakthrough that could unravel a long-standing solar mystery. These waves, known as torsional Alfvén waves, are tiny magnetic disturbances that travel through the sun's superheated, electrically charged gas, or plasma. The discovery, made using the world's most powerful solar telescope, marks the first direct evidence of these waves, which were first predicted by Swedish Nobel laureate Hannes Alfvén in 1942. The waves twist the sun's magnetic field lines like a corkscrew, but their subtle motion is difficult to spot directly in images. Scientists used spectroscopy to detect them, measuring how hot gas moves toward or away from Earth, revealing the hidden twisting pattern in the sun's atmosphere. The findings offer crucial confirmation for theoretical models about how magnetic turbulence carries and dissipates energy in the sun's upper atmosphere, providing new insights into why the sun's outer atmosphere is millions of degrees hotter than its surface.
