The Sun and the Earth: A Magnetic Connection

From our daily routines to seasonal changes, there are so many ways to experience our relationship with the Sun. For something upon which we rely so heavily, there are still quite a few mysteries that surround it! One of the biggest questions scientists have about the Sun seems so simple: Why is the Sun’s atmosphere so hot? Finding the answer to this question is a driving force behind solar physics today, and the key to solving this mystery might just unlock a few other clues along the way.

Join Dr. Robinson on a journey that begins deep inside the Sun, where superheated plasma flows generate the Sun’s tangled magnetic field. Learn how the magnetic field shapes and is shaped by the diffuse Solar atmosphere, and how resulting magnetic explosions offer crucial insights into unveiling the secrets of the Sun’s atmospheric processes.

Soon to join NASA’s proud fleet of Heliophysics missions, the Multi-Slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) is designed to collect the signatures of bright magnetic events in the Sun’s atmosphere and analyze them with unprecedented spectral detail. New data from MUSE will help us better understand not only the Sun’s atmosphere, but also how Earth’s relationship with the Sun is dictated by dynamic Solar magnetism.

Speaker: Dr. Rebecca Robinson, SETI Institute: MUSE Mission Outreach