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Published online 28 May 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.858
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Plasma twisters seen on the Sun
Three-dimensional images could help to explain solar jets.
The Sun’s violent eruptions may have their origins in tangled magnetic fields that act like a loaded spring, twisting plasma and jettisoning it away.
Solar physicists, debating the mechanism behind these dramatic 'plasma jet' outbursts, have theorized that tangled magnetic fields can contort plasma into a corkscrew shape, forcing the material into space.
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