Uncovering the Origins of the Solar Wind: Solar Orbiter Observes Ejections from the Sun’s Surface near the South Pole

2023-08-26 21:00:00
A corona hole observed near the South Pole of the Sun by the Solar Orbiter probe on March 30, 2022. You can see high-energy particles being ejected./ESA Just as small streams gather to form a huge river, small explosions that occur all over the sun create a huge solar wind that destroys satellite communications and power grids at once. research results came out. The solar wind is a stream of highly energetic particles ejected from the sun into space. Scientists have studied the solar wind for a long time, but did not know where and how it started. Dr. Lakshmi Pradeep Chitta of the Max Planck Institute for the Solar System in Germany published an article in the international journal ‘Science’ on the 25th. The unmanned spacecraft Solar Orbiter observed small-scale particle ejections from the sun’s surface over a short period of time.” These small eruptions are the starting point of the huge solar wind. At extremely high temperatures, matter exists in a plasma state in which the nuclei and electrons are separated. From here, the solar wind, a stream of charged particles, is ejected into space at a speed of 1.6 million kilometers per hour. Professor Chita’s research team announced that the Solar Orbiter observed a million-degree plasma ejected at a speed of 100 km/sec from the south pole of the sun on March 20, 2022. In the images taken by the probe, black lines ranging in length from 200 to 500 km can be seen in many places. Since it is a negative image in which the contrast appears in reverse, the black line is actually brighter than the other areas. The high-energy particles are ejected. The average speed of the solar wind is 450 km/sec, and the fastest one is 750 km/sec. The eruption time was also short, from 20 to 100 seconds. Still, the researchers said that the energy emitted at this time is equivalent to the energy used by 3,000 to 4,000 households in the United States for a year. This is the part indicated by the black line. It’s a negative film picture, so the black areas are actually hotter than the rest of the surface. This is because it is difficult to observe the sun up close. However, Solar Orbiter came close to the sun by 45 million km last year. It is closer to the sun than Mercury, which is at the very innermost part of the solar system. Solar Orbiter orbits the sun in an elliptical orbit after launch in 2020, and comes close to the sun once every two years. Researchers have discovered that Solar Orbiter’s extreme ultraviolet imaging (EUI) equipment detects a so-called ‘corona hole’ at the south pole of the sun. observed plasma eruptions. The coronal hole is where the temperature is low in the corona and appears dark. Scientists have linked the solar wind to the magnetic field of the coronal hole. The observed results of Solar Orbiter agree with this. The magnetic field, which is a space that attracts objects from the earth or the sun, extends straight up from the magnetic south and north poles, then bends down again. A coronal hole causes the magnetic field to come out rather than return in. Because of this, the corona hole blows the solar wind into space like a leaking balloon. flare, explosion) to nanoflare, which is one billionth of that scale. The eruption observed from the coronal hole discovered by Solar Orbiter last year emitted energy one thousandth smaller than that of a nanoflare, and was named a picoflare. Pico means one part in a trillion. The Solar Orbiter, a solar probe launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2020, approached the sun in a closer orbit than Mercury and explored the sun./ESA So far, the ultra-high temperature corona naturally expands and , I saw that some of them escape along the magnetic field extending into space. This assumes that the solar wind is generated steadily and continuously. However, this time, it was confirmed that the plasma ejections from the coronal hole occur in various places apart from each other, and that it proceeds on a small scale in a very short time. “This suggests that the solar wind from the coronal hole may start out as very intermittent eruptions,” he said. “Picoflares are small in energy but large in number and only last for up to a minute each. Even active, it could provide enough plasma for the massive solar wind. Dr. Cheetah said, “It’s like small streams flowing down from a mountain and eventually forming a huge river.” In March, Professor Stuart Bale of the University of California, Berkeley, USA, told Nature, “The Parker Solar Probe detected a flow of high-energy particles from the coronal hole on the sun’s surface, and this is a ‘high speed’ faster than average. ‘It seems to be the area where the solar wind begins.’ Parker is a solar probe launched by NASA in 2018. It is named after Eugene Parker, a professor at the University of Chicago who first predicted the existence of the solar wind in 1958. Bale’s team said that the Parker probe detected that the solar wind was not uniform in the coronal hole. From here, high-energy particles are emitted like streams of water sprayed from a shower head. The sun’s surface glows brightly as it explodes on August 7, 2023. As a result, the communication network was cut off in various parts of the earth./NASA ◇ Solar wind research to save earth infrastructure As the solar wind was found to start from the corona hole, it is expected to help prevent damage to the earth during the peak of solar activity. When the Sun is at rest, the coronal hole is confined to the poles, so that the fast solar wind from it does not reach the Earth. But every 11 years, when the sun’s magnetic field flips and solar activity increases, coronal holes appear all over the surface. As a result, an explosive solar wind aimed directly at the earth is generated. When the solar wind with tremendous energy collides with the earth’s atmosphere, the magnetic field is disturbed and an aurora is generated in the polar regions. At the same time, satellites fail, causing problems with communications and aircraft navigation systems. Accumulation of plasma particles can generate induced currents, which can destroy power facilities and cause power outages. Large explosions have become frequent in recent years as solar activity is expected to reach its peak in the next year’s 11-year cycle. Three X-class explosions were observed in July and August of this year. Solar eruptions on the 7th caused communication disruptions around the world. Solar wind research is a way to uncover the secrets of the sun and at the same time protect the Earth’s infrastructure. ReferencesScience (2023), DOI: DOI:
1693086353
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