Solar Sub-Surface Activity

Context

A team of international scientists, including researchers from India, has discovered giant plasma tides beneath the surface of the Sun.

Key Findings:

Discovery of Plasma Tides: Massive waves of hot plasma, like ocean tides, have been found in a turbulent region beneath the Sun's surface called the Near-Surface Shear Layer (NSSL).
These plasma flows occur about 35,000 km below the Sun’s surface.
The tides are closely linked to the Sun’s 11-year magnetic cycle, which controls sunspots and solar flares.
The finding challenges older beliefs that solar magnetic fields come from deep within the Sun. They may instead form closer to the surface.
Better Space Weather Forecasting: Understanding these internal flows could help scientists predict solar storms more accurately and protect Earth’s tech infrastructure.

The Sun is a giant ball of gas (mostly hydrogen and helium) with layers where energy is produced and transported.
It is by far the largest object in the solar system.
It contains more than 99.8% of the total mass of the Solar System with only Jupiter having the remaining 1.2%.
About 73% of the Sun’s mass is hydrogen, and another 25% is helium (i.e. Sun is composed of roughly 98% hydrogen and helium).
Core: The hottest part of the Sun is its core, where temperatures top 27 million °F (15 million °C).
Photosphere: The part of the Sun we call its surface – the photosphere – is a relatively cool 10,000 °F (5,500 °C).
Corona: In one of the Sun’s biggest mysteries, the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, gets hotter the farther it stretches from the surface. The corona reaches up to 3.5 million °F (2 million °C) – much, much hotter than the photosphere.
Sun is rotating in counter-clockwise direction (when viewed from a long way above Earth’s North Pole).
Solar magnetic field: Magnetic fields are produced in the Sun by the flow of electrically charged ions and electrons.
The Sun's interior isn't solid like the interior of Earth. It is a ball of swirling, hot plasma.