Sun Has Numerous Tiny Jets That Expel Plasma, Trigger Solar Wind [Study]

A new study discovered a new element of the Sun. The hot ball of glowing gases reportedly contains numerous "tiny jets of material" that escape from its atmosphere and trigger solar wind.

Sun's Tiny Jet Materials and Solar Wind

According to a new study, a significant solar phenomenon that has long confounded experts has been traced to an unknown source. The Solar Orbiter spacecraft, built by the European Space Agency (ESA) with assistance from NASA, has found several tiny jets of material that last 20 to 100 seconds and eject plasma-a state of matter composed of superheated, charged particles-at a velocity of about 224,000 miles per hour. The long-sought-after source of the solar wind may be the jets.

The researchers noticed that the tiny jets were coming from a coronal hole, a structure on the Sun. The Sun's magnetic field does not reorient itself into the star in these enormous holes. As an alternative, the magnetic field extends far into the solar system.

The fact that some of the solar wind the Sun generates is produced in these areas has long been known. Solar wind from the equatorial regions of the Sun, where there are fewer coronal holes, tends to be slower. Coronal holes, which are most frequent and stable in the north and south poles of the Sun, create relatively fast solar wind.

Although scientists knew that coronal holes were the source of high-speed solar wind, it was still unclear exactly how the plasma was launched. According to the most recent study, the tiny jets may now be responsible for unleashing the plasma that fuels the solar wind as they move away from the Sun.

The finding doubts earlier hypotheses that coronal holes produce high-speed solar wind in relatively continuous flows. The researchers discovered that this flow is largely intermittent rather than uniform, as once thought.

The heliosphere is a large "bubble" of interstellar material inflated by the solar wind and magnetic field. A variety of space weather phenomena that have an impact on Earth can result from variations in the solar wind. For instance, it may interact with the Earth's magnetic field to cause auroras under some conditions.

Extremely fast solar wind streams can cause geomagnetic storms that can, among other things, damage navigational systems and create dangerous currents in electrical grids and pipelines.

A crucial prerequisite for comprehending space weather is knowing the solar wind. According to ESA solar physicist Daniel Müller, findings like this are steps toward understanding the dynamic nature of the solar wind.

What Is Solar Wind?

The solar wind is made of plasma, which may travel across the solar system at speeds of up to 900 km/s at a temperature of one million degrees Celsius. It is a stream of charged, energetic particles, predominantly electrons, and protons, emanating from the Sun.

One of the fundamental aspects of the Sun is the solar wind. Even though scientists have been researching the issue for decades, knowing precisely how and where it is formed has remained challenging.

There is now more clarity on what causes the solar wind thanks to the sophisticated instruments on the Solar Orbiter, which is thought to be the most intricate scientific laboratory ever launched to investigate our star. According to the paper's lead author, Lakshmi Pradeep Chitta of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany, they could only detect these tiny jets because of the unprecedented high-resolution, high-cadence images produced by Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI).