FEATURE ARTICLE
Simulating Solar Prominences in the Laboratory
The techniques used to advance fusion research can be fruitfully applied to some basic problems in astrophysics
Paul Bellan
Astronomers have long studied solar prominences—projections of hot, ionized gas jutting out from the surface of the sun—but much still remains to be understood about their formation and evolution. Paul Bellan attemptes to reveal some of the mysterious workings behind these solar fireworks by creating miniature prominences in his laboratory. To conduct his small-scale physical simulations, he borrows techniques that plasma physicists have used for experiments with magnetic-confinement fusion.
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