Scientists have detected the source of the high-speed solar wind, charged particles which rush away into space from the sun's surface at up to two million miles per hour.
The wind comes from the spaces between individual magnetic fields which cover the solar surface in a honeycomb shape, explained Dr Don Hassler, of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, and lead author of a paper published in the current issue of Science.
"If one thinks of these cells as paving stones in a patio, then the solar wind is breaking through like grass around the edges, concentrated in the corners where the paving stones meet," explained his co-author, Dr Helen Mason, of the University of Cambridge.