News Astronomy

Plasma corkscrews form on sun during stellar eruption

Magnetic quirk accompanying a coronal mass ejection upsets solar theory

A twist in the sun's magnetic field

SOLAR SLINKY  A corkscrew-shaped twist in the sun’s magnetic field (right, false-colored blue) called a flux rope extends off the solar surface.

SDO/Goddard Space Flight Center/NASA

By Thomas Sumner

- More than 2 years ago

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A twist on the sun is throwing solar scientists for a loop.

For the first time, researchers have watched the sun’s magnetic field force plasma into a spring-shaped curl during a powerful solar eruption known as a coronal mass ejection, or CME.