Scientists find twisting magnetic waves on the sun. Could this help solve a huge solar mystery?

Scientists using the world's most powerful solar telescope say they've finally observed small-scale magnetic twists on the sun — a discovery that may help solve the longstanding mystery of how the sun's atmosphere grows hotter the farther it extends from the surface.

The finding, based on data from the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, marks the first direct evidence of tiny twisting magnetic motions of energy-packed plasma waves in the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, known as torsional Alfvén waves.

First predicted by Swedish Nobel laureate Hannes Alfvén in 1942, Alfvén waves are magnetic disturbances that travel through the plasma, the superheated, electrically charged gas that makes up the sun. Larger versions of these waves have been seen before, typically linked to sola