Science / Medicine : Core of Sun Spins on Tilted Axis
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Astrophysicists have found evidence that the core of the sun rotates on an axis that is tilted in respect to the sun’s surface rotation.
Peter A. Sturrock and Taeil Bai of Stanford University told the American Astronomical Society that data from NASA’s Solar Maximum Mission satellite reveals that solar activity coincides with 25.8-day patterns. That suggests that there is a “solar clock of this period,” Bai said.
“After looking at a number of possibilities, we have come to the view that the most likely interpretation is that the core of the sun has a period of 25.8 days, and rotates about an axis that is highly inclined to the axis of the sun’s surface rotation,” Sturrock said.
