Explanation:
Imagine a pipe as wide as a state and as long as the Earth.
Now imagine that this pipe is filled with
hot gas moving 50,000 kilometers per hour.
Further imagine that this pipe is not made of metal but a transparent
magnetic field.
You are envisioning just one of thousands of young
spicules on the active Sun.
Pictured above is one of the highest
resolution image yet of these enigmatic solar flux tubes.
Spicules line the above frame of
solar active
region 11092
that crossed the
Sun last month, but are particularly evident converging on the
sunspot on the lower left.
Time-sequenced images have recently shown that
spicules last about five minutes,
starting out as
tall tubes
of rapidly rising gas but eventually
fading as the gas peaks and falls back down to the
Sun.
What determines the creation and dynamics of
spicules remains a topic of active research.
