Sunrise-III reveals a magnetic web above the Sun's quiet regions

Astronomers led by NAOJ used the balloon-borne Sunrise-III observatory to find intricate thread-like magnetic structures in the chromosphere above quiet regions of the Sun. The 2024 observations from about 35 km altitude and computer simulations suggest surface motions twist field lines into the observed magnetic canopy.

• Sunrise-III floated at 35 km with a 1-meter solar telescope
• The SCIP instrument mapped magnetic fields from photosphere to chromosphere
• Simulations reproduced the thread-like canopy structures
• Findings offer clues to how the solar atmosphere is heated