Puzzle Page #6: Coronium
You found it!
Congratulations on finding today's 3.8 digital souvenir sticker.
Thank you for joining Parker Solar Probe's journey as it gets closer to the Sun than ever before. Let the world know you’ve solved the puzzle by posting this sticker using hashtag #3point8.
But shhhhhh! This webpage is secret, so don't share the link to this page!
We’ll share a new sticker on a different secret webpage every day from December 17-24, 2024, so watch for new daily puzzles to solve to download other souvenir stickers.
Learn more about the #3point8 Challenge.
Today's Puzzle Answer: Coronium
During the 1869 total solar eclipse, astronomers Charles Augustus Young and William Harkness observed an unusual green emission line in the Sun's corona, or outer atmosphere. The scientists suspected they had found a new element, which they named "coronium," after its discovery site in the Sun's corona.
Seventy years later, physicist Bengt Edlén proved that the light came from iron that had been ionized, or heated up enough to allow some of its electrons to escape. To emit that light, an iron atom had to lose 13 of its 26 electrons. Achieving such high levels of ionization required temperatures around 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit — nearly 200 times hotter than the Sun's surface. This discovery led to one of the most enduring mysteries in solar physics: the coronal heating problem.
Learn more about the coronal heating problem.
Learn more about the #3point8 Challenge.