Researchers have confirmed the existence of giant convection cells flowing slowly on the sun, lending further insight into the origin of cycles of sunspot activity. In a paper published today in the journal Science, Astrophysicist Dr. David Hathaway, right, of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and co-authors Lisa Upton, a gra
Researchers have confirmed the existence of giant convection cells flowing slowly on the sun, lending further insight into the origin of cycles of sunspot activity. In a paper published today in the journal Science, Astrophysicist Dr. David Hathaway, right, of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and co-authors Lisa Upton, a graduate student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., and Owen Colegrove, an undergraduate student at the University of Rochester in New York, describe how they used data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory to observe the movement of giant convection cells.
Image credit: NASA/MSFC