![the sun corona the sun corona](http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/mcateer/thesis/online/figures/make_figures/solar_section.jpg)
One proof could be plasma jets, which scientists expect to be produced by the reconnection process. Structures visible in the corona at such times suggest that they are shaped by magnetic fields, and therefore, that the corona consists of plasma. "We need to find proofs that (magnetic reconnection) is really the story" says Gurman. It has now circled the sun more than eight times and 'touched' the sun for the first time when it entered the corona the low density, high temperature. During a total eclipse of the Sun, when for a few minutes the Moon completely covers the Suns face, a glow appears around the darkened Sun-the solar corona, the Suns outermost atmosphere. As a direct consequence of this theory, the heating process should occur much closer to the surface of the Sun than previously thought, but no one really knows how close. Experts do not even agree on the approximate length of time these patches remain active. No one has directly observed any magnetic field reconnection.
![the sun corona the sun corona](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800/2017/newcluetosol.png)
One idea holds that magnetic field lines twist and braid as they skitter around the sun, building up. It's a faily inefficient source of energy, but the sheer number of these small magnetic patches on the surface of the Sun makes the process a viable solution to the 50 year old problem of what heats the solar corona.Īll is not quite clear yet. IRIS will test the two leading hypotheses that seek to explain the corona’s extreme heat. Because the laws of electromagnetism prohibit the intersection of two magnetic field lines, every time magnetic field lines come close to crossing they are "rearranged," and this magnetic reconnection continuously heats the solar corona. Now most scientists believe that the heating of the corona is linked to the interaction of the magnetic field lines radiating out of the small patches mentioned above. But there was a problem with that theory: those giant loops disappeared during solar minima, while the corona does not. The halo which appears around the sun during totality and is referred to as the corona today was sometimes confused with the remaining section of the sun.
![the sun corona the sun corona](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/solar_tornado.jpg)
They thought the heat energy was coming from the active regions, where the spectacular giant loops are seen in Ultra-Violet and X-rays. According to Joseph Gurman, an astrophysicist at the Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics at the Goddard Space Flight Center, people already suspected that magnetic fields were playing an active role in the Solar Corona problem.