Scientists find what makes the solar wind howl

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'IMPOSSIBLE TO OBSERVE'

Another mechanism powering the solar wind involves the sun's chromosphere, the region sandwiched between the solar surface and its corona. Images from Hinode's Solar Optical Telescope found that the chromosphere is filled with Alfven waves, which when they leak into the corona are strong enough to trigger the solar wind.

"Until now, Alfven waves have been impossible to observe because of limited resolution of available instruments," Alexei Pevtsov, Hinode program scientist for NASA, said in a statement.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency leads the mission, with cooperation from NASA and the European Space Agency.

Hinode has three key pieces of equipment - the largest optical telescope to observe the sun from orbit, an X-ray telescope and an ultraviolet imaging spectrograph, making continuous observations of the sun.

The existence of the solar wind was first theorized about a half century ago. It existence was confirmed in the 1970s.

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