Solar spicule

Spicules near the solar limb. They appear as dark "hairs" above the solar surface.

In solar physics, a spicule, also known as a fibril or mottle,[a] is a dynamic jet of plasma in the Sun's chromosphere about 300 km in diameter.[1] They move upwards with speeds between 15 and 110 km/s from the photosphere and last a few minutes each[1] before falling back to the solar atmosphere.[2] They were discovered in 1877 by Angelo Secchi, but the physical mechanism that generates them is still hotly debated.


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  1. ^ a b Quantifying Spicules, Tiago M. D. Pereira, Bart De Pontieu, and Mats Carlsson, The Astrophysical Journal 759, #1 (October 2012), pp. 18-34, doi:10.1088/0004-637X/759/1/18, Bibcode:2012ApJ...759...18P.
  2. ^ Bose, Souvik; Jayant Joshi; Vasco Henriques; Luc Rouppe van der Voort (24 March 2021). "Spicules and downflows in the solar chromosphere". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 647. EDP Sciences. arXiv:2101.07829. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202040014.