NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Discovers Clues on the Origins of the Solar Wind

JAKARTA – To peek deeper into the Sun, NASA has launched Parker Solar Probe (PSP) in 2018 . Now, this probe has flown close enough to that star in the Solar System.

The PSP was launched to detect the fine structure of the solar wind, near where it is generated on the surface, uncovering details that are lost when the wind exits the coronal as a uniform burst of charged particles.

This mission, is like seeing a jet of water gushing from a shower. Coronal holes are areas where magnetic field lines emerge from the surface without turning back inward, thus forming open field lines that extend outward and fill most of the space around the Sun.

Usually, the holes are at the poles during the solar quiet periods, so the fast solar winds they generate don’t hit Earth.

However, when the Sun becomes active every 11 years as its magnetic field rotates, these holes appear all over the surface, producing bursts of solar wind directed directly at Earth.

PSP has successfully detected streams of high-energy particles. The stream, matched by supergranulation flows in the coronal vents, indicates a region of origin for the fast solar wind.

Understanding how and where the solar wind originates will help predict solar storms that, apart from producing beautiful auroras on Earth, can also damage satellites and power grids.

“Wind carries a great deal of information from the sun to Earth, so understanding the mechanisms behind the solar wind is important for practical reasons on Earth,” said Professor of Physics, Stuart D. Bale, in a paper published in the journal Nature last week.

“That will impact our ability to understand how the sun releases energy and drives geomagnetic storms, which pose a threat to our communications networks.”

The scientists’ analysis suggests the coronal holes are like shower heads, in that jets are roughly equally spaced emerging from the bright spot where magnetic field lines enter and leave the sun’s surface.

Scientists think that when oppositely directed magnetic fields pass one another in this funnel, which can be up to 18,000 miles across, the fields often break and reconnect, catapulting charged particles out of the Sun.

PSP detected particles moving 10 to 100 times faster than the average solar wind, scientists concluded wind could only be generated through this process, which is called magnetic reconnection.

“The big conclusion is that it is magnetic reconnection within the funnel structure that provides a source of fast solar wind energy,” said Bale.

“It doesn’t just come from everywhere in the coronal orifice, it substructures in the coronal orifice to these supergranulated cells. It comes from a small pool of magnetic energy associated with convection currents. Our results, we think, are strong evidence that reconnection does that,” he added.

The structure of the funnel likely corresponds to the bright jets that can be seen from Earth in coronal holes. The sun is expected to reach its solar maximum in July 2025, which is why there are increasing reports of solar flares, northern and southern lights being seen in unexpected places.

Fortunately, the PSP and the Solar Orbiter’s separate mission, are well prepared to observe the powerful power of the Sun, as quoted from Eurekalert and CNN InternationalMonday, June 12.

“There was concern early on in the solar probe mission that we would launch this object directly into the loneliest and most boring part of the solar cycle,” Bale said.

“But I think that without it, we will never understand this. That would be too messy. I think we were lucky because we launched it in minimum sun conditions.”

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