The Sun has its own circulation system

2003/09/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

As on Earth, in the Sun, currents flow from the poles to the equator (and back to the poles). On Earth this route is made by air currents and the climate depends on this traffic. In the Sun, under the surface, compressed gases at almost two hundred thousand kilometers slowly move towards the equator. According to NASA astronomers who have studied, the cycle of sunspots depends in part on this traffic. In fact, they have seen that when gases move more slowly the cycles last longer and vice versa. So far this responsibility has been attributed to the magnetic field.

Sunspots are colder regions that appear and disappear on the surface of the star. But they are not created at any point. They appear in two bands located north and south of the equator, which slowly move towards the equator in each cycle. Cycles last approximately eleven years and affect solar activity.

NASA astronomers have also made two discoveries: that traffic changes slightly from cycle to cycle and that one influences the strength of the other. But not exactly in the next, but in two later cycles.