A daredevil solar probe, comparable to Icarus in its audacity to get closer to the Sun, has successfully traced the origin of the powerful solar winds emanating from the Sun's corona.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe defied the extreme heat of the Sun as it ventured within a hair-singeing distance of 8.5 million kilometers (5.3 million miles) in 2021, providing unprecedented insights into the generation of the fast solar wind.
Solar Probe Traces the Origin of Intense Solar Winds, Giving Scientists the Closest Look Yet of How Fast They Are Generated
Importance of Unravelling the Origins of Solar Winds
Physicists led by Stuart Bale of the University of California, Berkeley, and James Drake of the University of Maryland, College Park, have discovered that a specific type of magnetic reconnection propels this force of nature.
The probe's findings carry significant implications for understanding solar energy release, geomagnetic storms, and their impact on Earth's communication networks. Drake said in a news release that by unraveling the mysteries of coronal holes, researchers have taken a remarkable step toward deciphering the secrets of the Solar System's star.
A coronal hole is a region on the surface of the Sun where magnetic field lines emerge and expand outward, lacking the typical looping back. During the Sun's calm periods, these holes are primarily located at the poles and produce fast solar winds that do not impact Earth.
However, during the Sun's active phases, which occur every 11 years during magnetic field flips, these holes emerge all over the surface, generating intense bursts of solar wind directly aimed at Earth.
Gaining a comprehensive understanding of the origin and characteristics of the solar wind is crucial for accurately predicting solar storms. These storms, while creating mesmerizing auroras, can also pose significant threats to satellites and the electrical grid.READ ALSO: Solar Wind Generates Water on the Moon, Chinese Scientists Say
The Coronal Hole Is Like a Shower Head
The Parker Solar Probe was designed to investigate the turbulent solar wind near the Sun's surface and understand how charged particles are accelerated to escape its gravity. By approaching closer than 25 to 30 solar radii (approximately 13 million miles), the probe captured data revealing the structured nature of the solar wind and its origins.
Science Alert reported that the data from the Parker Solar Probe has revealed that coronal holes resemble shower heads, with evenly spaced jets emerging from areas where magnetic field lines funnel into and out of the Sun's surface. These funnels form where supergranulation cells, driven by convection, converge and drag the magnetic field downward, intensifying it.
The spatial separation of these funnels is a key observation from the probe's data. Two possible explanations for the generation of the solar wind within these funnels are interchange reconnection and particle acceleration by Alfvén waves.
However, Parker's measurements of particles traveling at extremely high speeds, 10 to 100 times faster than the average solar wind, suggest that interchange reconnection is the dominant process.
The study, titled "Interchange reconnection as the source of the fast solar wind within coronal holes" published in Nature, provides strong evidence that magnetic reconnection within these funnel structures powers the fast solar wind.
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