NASA parker solar probe stains are a powerful magnetic explosion intended for the surface of the sun
While making a dive defying death through the atmosphere of the sun, the NASA Parker Solar Probe has directly recorded a powerful explosion of plasma heading towards the surface of our star in unprecedented details.
The new Parker measures have found protons with about 1000 times more energy than expected and a plasma jet pulling towards the sun, not far from him. Parker was only positioned between the sun and the source of the particles, allowing scientists to easily determine where they came. These results indicate that the complexity and the force of the tangles in the magnetic field of the sun can accelerate the particles loaded at much greater than expected speeds of the only strength of the field.
The Sunward plasma jet was caused by a “magnetic reconnection” in the atmosphere of the sun – the explosive process in which magnetic fields fracture and reconnect. The powerful phenomenon transforms the energy stored in the magnetic field of the sun in energy which accelerates the solar wind – the constant flow of charged particles that the sun explodes through the solar system.
Understanding magnetic reconnection is essential to make better predictions on space time, which is motivated by the solar wind and other energetic explosions of our star. Space weather is a main suspect for this Fat the atmosphere of MarchThe transforming of a habitable planet into an icy desert wasteland. On Earth, the time of space can trigger geomagnetic storms which cause power outages, damage satellites, interfere with radio and GPS signals, and even put astronauts in danger. On the luminous side, it also gives the earth its signature Auroras glorious.
The magnetic field of the sun is extremely powerful, complex and dynamic. The weather forecast for space requires complicated computer simulations based on equations that describe how the magnetic fields behave – but the sun is so large and complicated that these equations will always be approximations. To improve the accuracy of models, scientists must collect extremely detailed measures of the sun. This is where the Parker solar probe comes into play.
The Parker solar probe is the first mission to fly in the high atmosphere of the sun, called the crown. He directly measured magnetic fields and particles in and around the crown in unprecedented details, providing a scientific overview of the heliosphere (the atmosphere of the sun, which includes the entire solar system in a massive and elongated bubble).
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“These results indicate that magnetic reconnection … is an important source of energetic particles in the solar wind close to the sun”, the main author of the study MIRI DESAIDirector of the Southwest Research Institute space research department, said in a statement. “Wherever there are magnetic fields, there will be a magnetic reconnection. But the magnetic fields of the sun are much stronger near the star, so there is much more energy stored to release.”
Understanding the functioning of magnetic reconnection events could help scientists better predict the harmful weather of space, the researchers said.
“The reports of the American Meteorological Society indicated that the Powerful sunscreens in May 2024 wreaks havoc with farmers when they are extreme geomagnetic storms disturbed the precise navigation guided by the GPS The systems used to plant, fertilize and collect seeds, resulting in estimated loss up to $ 500 million in gain potential, “said Desai.” Parker access to these new data is essential, especially because we remain in the middle of a very active solar cycle. “”
The latest magnetic reconnection measures, reported in a paper Published on May 29 in the magazine Astrophysical Letters, is one of the many new discoveries that Parker has made. In 2023, More than 700 scientific articles evaluated by peers have been published using data collected during the first four years of operation of the probe, and there are still many other discoveries to make. The spaceship completed its Second ultra-fermized overflight of the sun On March 22, zooming in the 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) of the sun surface – corresponding to its own record of December 2024.
