Scientists have solved the long-standing mystery that plagued the scientific community and was related to the origin of the sun’s magnetic field. Researchers presented a new theory published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Unlike previous research that assumed the sun’s magnetic field comes from deep within the celestial body, they suspect its source is much closer to the surface.

How exactly this magnetic field is created inside the sun is a puzzle that has puzzled astronomers for centuries, going back to the time of the Italian astronomer Galileo, who made the first observations of sunspots in the early 1600s, and noticed how they varied with over time.

This new discovery therefore solves a centuries-old puzzle. At the same time, however, it helps predict space weather, which can disrupt the operation of satellites, as well as the spectacular Aurora that forms in the Earth’s sky. It also answers questions about the solar cycle.

Specifically, the sun has a strong magnetic field that creates spots on the star’s surface and causes solar storms like those that hit parts of the planet with auroras earlier this month.

Every 11 years, the sun completes a cycle and reaches the so-called “solar maximum”. Then many dark spots appear on its surface.

These “sunspots” are caused by massive changes in the magnetic field of the sun’s star. They simultaneously fire violent bursts of energy toward Earth, causing “solar storms” that can potentially damage satellites and disrupt the internet.

Solar storm

“We want to predict whether the next solar cycle will be particularly strong or perhaps weaker than normal. Ta previous models (assuming that the solar magnetic field originates deep within the Sun) were unable to make accurate predictions or (determine) whether the next solar cycle will be strong or weak,” Daniel Lecoanet, assistant professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and a member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, told CNN.

The scientists took ten years to develop the algorithm through which they carried out the research, while they used a NASA supercomputer to “run” simulations and understand what is happening inside the solar celestial body. They claim that they wasted around 15,000 hours conducting the research and that if they had used a simple laptop it would have taken them around 450 years.