Overview
- The peer-reviewed study led by Northumbria University’s Richard Morton is published in Nature Astronomy.
- Observations reveal small, continually present twisting waves whose energy is a plausible source of coronal heating to million-degree temperatures.
- The team detected opposite red and blue Doppler shifts across thin coronal structures, a spectroscopic signature of torsional motion distinct from swaying kink waves.
- The Inouye Telescope’s four-meter aperture and Cryo-NIRSP sensitivity enabled tracking plasma at around 1.6 million degrees Celsius.
- Findings bolster models linking Alfvén waves to solar-wind dynamics and possible magnetic switchbacks, informing future space-weather forecasting.