On The Sun's Layers

Pfhreakaz0id writes "Funny how we hear a lot about extra-planetary research but not much on the good 'ol Sun. Saw this story on MSNBC about how scientists have discovered two rotating layers of gas inside the sun that rotate opposite directions at varying speeds. They call it the "sun's hearbeat" (kinda poetic I thought). Researchers wonder if it may be somehow related to the 11-year sunspot cycle. There's also this related story about using sound waves to "see" what's up on the other side of the sun. "

parallel layers of gas? try concentric

[georgeha]

They lost me when they started talking about parallel layers of gas.

I think they meant concentric layers of gas.

Oh well, it's good to know you don't need to pass geometry to get a job as a reporter.

George

Re:parallel layers of gas? try concentric

[Pfhreakaz0id]

Ummmm, OK, I have to rise to the defense of reporters here. I was one for several years. Because the reporter said "parallel" doesn't mean they don't know it should be concentric. As a reporter, your objective is to write something that the majority of people will understand -- Particulary with science reporting. Most people will understand what the reporter means by "parallel" but don't have a clue what concentric means. On a completely unrelated note, I didn't realize until now that there were stories that appeared on the sub-sections of /. without getting on the main page. I saw my submission had been accepted, but couldn't find it. I like the science stuff the best, so I'll start checking this out.
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Re:parallel layers of gas? try concentric

[tesserae]

The MSNBC article is confusing, all right... but the posted article is simply confused. I've just been to the Science article, and I think I understand what they were trying to say.

They're talking about both parallel and concentric layers of gas: the concentric ones are the outer convective layer, the inner radiative layer, and the thin shear layer between them, known as the tachocline. The convective and radiative zones rotate at different speeds (not "opposite directions!"), while the tachocline changes speed periodically; the speeds of the layers above and below the tachocline also change periodically, but in opposite directions (the changes in speed are in opposite directions, meaning one speeds up while the other slows, not opposite rotations) -- which implies that the tachocline is oscillating.

While the radiative zone rotates essentially as a solid body (despite the fact that it's actually a highly-compressed plasma), the convective outer zone doesn't. In fact, the polar regions of the convective zone have a one-year oscillation coupled to the tachocline, while the equatorial regions have a 1.3-year oscillation. These, I think, are the "parallel layers" from the article.

What's entirely unexpected about this is the period: everyone thought it would be connected to the 11-year sunspot cycle, but instead there are two separate periods, 1.0 and 1.3 years, neither of which has any obvious relationship with the sunspot-cycle period. Once again, we find that the simple models aren't a great match for reality -- and science is nowhere near the end of its search for understanding of the universe. (Which is a good thing!)

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