NASA’s Probe Witnessed the Birth of Solar Wind by Approaching the Sun Closely

The solar wind, a surge of charged particles emanating from the sun, impacts the planets it travels by causing auroras, radio blackouts, and occasionally causing devastation to satellites and the electrical grid here on Earth. With technology becoming increasingly dependent on space connections, predicting these events is becoming more important than ever before. A major “black swan event” caused by a solar superstorm could wipe out technology such as satellites, internet cables, long-distance power lines, and transformers.

NASA and solar physicists understand the severity of these events, and are working to find a way to predict them. They have now made a breakthrough discovery.

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A new paper, recently published in Nature, describes a close flyby of the sun by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe in August 2018, during which it got as close as 13 million miles. There it was able to detect the precise fine structure of the solar wind, near where it is generated at the sun’s surface. This new information is important as understanding the mechanism behind the sun’s wind is crucial in comprehending how the sun releases energy, which drives geomagnetic storms that can severely affect communication networks.

The Parker Solar Probe detected streams of high-energy particles that match what happens in “coronal holes.” These are cooler, less dense regions in the sun’s outer atmosphere where open magnetic field lines extend outward. According to researchers, this discovery suggests that the solar wind originates within coronal holes, which they liken to showerheads with jets emerging from bright spots where magnetic field lines funnel into and out of the sun’s surface.

Solar Fluctuations

According to Stuart D. Bale, a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, there was concern that the Parker Solar Probe would not obtain useful information about the solar wind because it was launched during the quietest part of the sunspot cycle, or solar minimum (the last one occurred in 2019). However, Bale believes that the probe’s early launch was necessary to uncover the information they needed to understand the phenomenon. As the sun’s magnetic field flips during the years around solar maximum (2024/2025), coronal holes appear all over the sun’s surface. This leads to Earth being blasted with more intense solar wind, causing more frequent geomagnetic storms, which can have consequences here on Earth.

The Parker Solar Probe’s journey is far from over. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe recently completed its 15th close approach to the sun (out of a total of 24) on March 17, 2023, coming within 5.3 million miles, while travelling at 364,619 miles per hour. Its next close flyby of the sun will occur on June 22, 2023, when it once again gets to within 5.3 million miles.

As the sun is now entering solar maximum, its activity is becoming more chaotic, making it potentially more difficult to record specific processes. However, in late 2024 and 2025 Parker will make its three closest flybys at only 4.2 million miles from the sun, the limit before its instruments would melt.

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Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

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