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Experiments in helioseismology: | |
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So when we look back over the centuries we see that doctrines of the interpretation of nature, which were held as sound and good for their time, fell from honor when faced with the light of some new scientific theory. | |
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Max Planck, The New Science, 1959. | |
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The SOHO satellite has provided excellent doppler images of the sun which display the presence of tranverse waves on the surface of the sun (see below). These images were taken during a solar flare on July 9th, 1996. They demonstrate the rising flare (appears white on the images) and the associated production of transverse waves. The SOHO team highlights that these waves appear as "resembling ripples from a pebble thrown on a pond". (Note that a white region on the image indicate matter moving towards the satellite, wereas a dark region indicates matter moving away from it.) The waves extend for millions of meters on the surface of the sun. The production of transverse waves of this type appears to represent a surface gravitational wave. These are usually considered to be limited to the presence of a condensed state such as seen in our oceans or lakes. As such, these doppler images are highly supportive of a dense photosphere model. In addition, the fact that we are conducting helioseismology measurements on the sun should give us cause to ponder. Seismological studies, by their nature, are limited to the condensed state. On earth, such studies extend to the solid portions of the earth, or to the oceans perhaps. However, seimological studies are not performed on our atmosphere or on the clouds even though they have densities that are more than 1000 times that proposed for the photosphere. (Note: It is known that water vapor in the clouds which surround the earth can also support surface gravity waves. However, the clouds contain water in the condensed state. The author is unaware of the production of a surface gravity wave on earth in an experimental setting limited strictly to the gaseous state. In any case, it appears that the clouds are unable to sustain the ripple effect seen on the surface of the pond or in the images below.) Fleck, B., Brekke, P., Haugan, S., Duarte, L.S., Domingo, V., Gurman, J.B. & Poland, A.I., Four Years of SOHO Discoveries - Some Highlighs, ESA Bulletin 102, pp. 68-86, 2000. Kosovichev, A.G. & Zharkova, V.V., X-Ray Flare Sparks Quake Inside the Sun. Nature 393, p. 28,1998.
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Courtesy of SOHO/[instrument] consortium. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA. Published Electronically on December 17th, 2003. Revised on December 18th, 2003. |
