The Mystery of Coronal Heating Quiz

What is the temperature difference between the sun's surface and its corona?

• The corona is cooler than the surface.

• The corona is 200 to 500 times hotter than the surface.

• The surface is 200 to 500 times hotter than the corona.

• The surface and corona have the same temperature.

When was the problem of coronal heating first discovered?

• In the 1920s

• In the 1940s

• In the 1960s

• In the 1980s

What is the primary purpose of NASA's IRIS observatory?

• To measure the sun's magnetic field

• To investigate the heating of the solar atmosphere

• To observe solar flares

• To study the sun's core

What are 'heat bombs' in the context of coronal heating?

• Explosions caused by solar winds

• Magnetic fields realigning and releasing energy

• Nuclear reactions in the sun's core

• Collisions of solar particles

What recent evidence did IRIS find regarding coronal heating?

• Cooling patterns in the corona

• No significant findings

• Uniform heating across the corona

• Evidence of discrete, explosive heating events