Beautiful Science

Researchers at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy have been studying the solar corona, the outermost atmosphere of the Sun that expands into interplanetary space. The properties of the solar corona are a consequence of the Sun's complex magnetic field, which is produced in the solar interior and extends outward into space.

The institute's graduate student Benjamin Boe conducted a new study that used total solar eclipse observations to measure the shape of the coronal magnetic field with higher spatial resolution and over a larger area than ever before, said the University of Hawaii at Manoa in a statement.

The corona is most easily seen during a total solar eclipse - when the Moon is directly between the Earth and Sun, blocking sunlight. Significant technological advances in recent decades have shifted a majority of analysis to space-based observations at wavelengths of light not accessible from the ground. Despite these advances, some aspects of the corona can be studied only during total solar eclipses.

The work has further implications in other areas of solar research - including the formation of the solar wind, which impacts the Earth's magnetic field and can have effects on the ground, such as power outages, the university said.