Scientists Probe Secrets of the Sun's Seething Interior By Mapping Magnetic Fingerprints on its Surface

These two images were acquired by NASA's orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory in 2010. The image on the left shows the sun's extended outer atmosphere, called the corona. The image on the right is a kind of magnetic map that reveals fingerprints of what's going on deep inside the sun. (Source: NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory Little SDO Facebook page) If solar physicists could only see deep inside the sun, they could discern the source and evolution of profound magnetic forces that produce explosions of solar material from the surface — explosions that can later wreck havoc on power grids and telecommunications systems here on Earth. Direct observation is impossible. But the sun's internal activity does affect what can be seen at the surface. And now, researchers have reported that they've spotted new evidence for gargantuan cells of slowly moving material that may reach a third of the way down to the sun's thermonuclear core.