Researchers are using data from Sun-like stars to learn more about solar variability

Solar scientists have taken a mathematical technique used by Earth scientists to analyze cyclic phenomena, such as the ebb and flow of ocean tides, and applied it to the confounding irregularity of cycles on the Sun. The result is an elegant “Sun clock” that shows that solar activity starts and stops on a much more precise schedule than could be discerned when looking at observations of the Sun in the traditional way – plotted linearly over time.

Scientists at NCAR designed and built one of the Inouye Solar Telescope’s five instruments: the Visible Spectro-Polarimeter (ViSP). This extremely versatile instrument can observe any wavelength across the visible spectrum of the Sun’s radiation, allowing scientists a huge degree of flexibility to explore.

The PUNCH mission will fill the observational gaps to create a seamless view.

In a pair of new papers, scientists paint a picture of how solar cycles suddenly die, potentially causing tsunamis of plasma to race through the Sun’s interior and trigger the birth of the next sunspot cycle only a few short weeks later.