The mystery of how the sun's corona, which is its outer atmosphere, reaches millions of degrees could have a surprising explanation: cosmic dust riding the magnetic waves carrying plasma on the solar wind.
"For decades, researchers have focused mainly on how electrons, ions, magnetic fields and plasma waves transport and dissipate energy in the solar atmosphere," said lead researcher Syed Ayaz of the University of Alabama in Huntsville in a statement. "Our work adds a new ingredient to this picture: dust grains."
The finding came courtesy of NASA's Parker Solar Probe, which has flown closer to the sun than any other spacecraft, skirting the corona at a distance of 6.1 million kilometers (3.8 million miles...
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