(RoyalPatriot.com )- A mysterious pulse was discovered coming from the sun every 10 to 20 seconds causing scientists to liken it to a “heartbeat,” according to The Daily Mail. The pulses, also known as quasi-periodic pulsations (QPP, reportedly originate over 3,000 miles above the surface.
A research team at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) said that if they can determine where the pulses are coming from, then they could figure out how solar storms, which can be harmful to Earth, are released.
In August 2022, NASA warned that solar eruptions could negatively impact GPS signals, power grids, satellite electronics, and radio communication, according to Fox News. The eruptions, which reportedly increased every 11 years, are explosions from the sun that can cause storms on Earth. The peak of the cycle is expected to be between one and three years away.
Sijie Yu, an astronomer and co-author of the paper by the NJIT, said that understanding the pattern of the pulsations will provide insight into how energy is emitted and dissipated in the star’s atmosphere.
In 2017, the team reportedly found where the heartbeat originated using a radio telescope called the Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array (EOVSA). For the first time, the QPP signal was found more than 15,000 miles through the core of the explosion. A second pulse was then found in the flare, which leading author Yuankun Kou said was “not uncommon for solar radio bursts.”
But it was a secondary origin of the pulse from the quasi-repetitive magnetic reconnections that had surprised scientists. Both sources can be used to figure out which caused the other.
Bin Chen, associate professor at NJIT, spoke of the possibility that both sources are connected, and underlined the significance the discovery has in giving scientists information about the sun’s explosive events and solar flares.
