SPACE & PHYSICS
Strange new solar wave defies physics
WORDS BEN TURNER
A NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory image of the Sun
© Getty / NASA;SDO
Scientists have detected a strange new type of high-frequency wave on the Sun’s surface, and the waves are moving three times faster than scientists thought was possible. The acoustic waves, called high-frequency retrograde (HFR) vorticity waves, were spotted rippling backwards through the Sun’s plasma in the opposite direction of its rotation. Scientists can’t see into the Sun’s fiery depths, so they often measure the acoustic waves that move across its surface and bounce back towards its core to infer what’s going on inside.