FAST waves have been spotted coming out of the Sun and they’re moving quicker than what was previously considered possible.
This is according to stunned scientists who claim to have observed solar waves on the Sun’s surface moving three times faster than expected.
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Researchers have described the waves as a “true mystery”.
The surprising findings have been published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
A team of researchers studied 25 years of Sun data taken from both space and Earth.
This is how they discovered the extreme solar waves.
They’ve called them high-frequency retrograde (HFR) waves.
The waves swirl on the Sun’s surface and move in the opposite direction to other solar waves.
You may be surprised to hear the Sun has waves but they’re nothing like the waves we have in the ocean.
The Sun is made up of burning hot gases that form matter called plasma.
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Scientists study the outer plasma of the Sun to get an idea about what’s going on inside.
The researchers think the new HRF waves could teach us more about what’s happening inside the Sun.
They think the quick waves could have a connection to magnetism, gravity or convection.
Chris S Hanson, the lead researcher, said: “If the HFR waves could be attributed to any of these three processes, then the finding would have answered some open questions we still have about the Sun.
“However, these new waves don’t appear to be a result of these processes, and that’s exciting because it leads to a whole new set of questions.”
Shravan Hanasoge, a co-author of the paper, said: “The very existence of HFR modes and their origin is a true mystery and may allude to exciting physics at play.
“It has the potential to shed insight on the otherwise unobservable interior of the Sun.”
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