Scientists successfully predicted the appearance of the sun's scorching outer atmosphere, called the corona, during a recent eclipse using a computer model that simulates solar physics.

The corona appears as a luminous halo around the sun that can be seen during eclipses like the one that occurred on March 29, 2006 when the main body of the sun is blotted out.

The corona is threaded with magnetic fields generated beneath the sun's surface.The movement of these magnetic fields around the sun causes violent eruptions, called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, and solar storms that can disrupt satellites, communications and power systems on Earth.

By accurately simulating the behavior of the corona, scientists hope to predict when it will produce flares and CMEs, the same way the National Weather Service uses computer simulations of Earth's atmosphere to predict when it will produce thunderstorms or hurricanes.

The research was conducted by scientists at the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in California and the findings were announced yesterday at the 2006 American Astronomical Society (AAS)'s Solar Physics Division meeting.

--Ker Than

Credit: Science Applications International Corporation and NASA