NASA Model of Sun’s Corona Reveals Unforeseen Activity, Emphasizing the Importance of Real-Time Data

At the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility, which is located at the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, a team of researchers used the Aitken, Electra, and Pleiades supercomputers to develop a dynamic model of the corona. The researchers utilized near-real-time data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and ESA’s Solar Orbiter to create the model.

The team’s model successfully predicted various features such as long streamers in the upper and lower left side of the image. However, upon closer examination, it was noted that the streamers’ locations were slightly off when compared to actual images. This discrepancy is believed to be due to new activity occurring on the far side of the Sun that was not yet observed and therefore not included in the model.

Once this new activity was accounted for, the model more accurately matched the observational photos of the corona. This highlights the importance of continuously updating models with the latest data to improve their accuracy and reliability.