Some space scientists say they have identified a new source of energetic particles near the Sun.
These observations were made by instruments aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Parker Solar Probe, which detected the phenomena as the spacecraft dipped in and out of the solar corona.
Experts say solar energetic particles are high-energy, charged particles, primarily protons and electrons, that the sun emits.
According to a report in Science Daily, the research was led by Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas.
These observations were made by instruments aboard NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which detected the powerful phenomena as the spacecraft dipped in and out of the solar corona.
Inaugurated in 2018, the Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s solar observation programmes.
Solar corona is the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere. It is usually hidden by the bright light of the Sun’s surface.
According to Science Daily, the research was led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, Texas.
The report said the new results offer fresh perspectives on how magnetic reconnection could heat the solar atmosphere, which then transitions into the solar wind.
It also indicates how solar flares accelerate a small fraction of charged particles to near-relativistic speeds.
“Through the SwRI-led Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, scientists made the first direct detection of the source of magnetic reconnection near Earth.
“They observed how this explosive physical process converts stored magnetic energy into kinetic energy and heat,” said SwRI’s Dr Mihir Desai, lead author of an article on the research.
He said Parker has made direct observations of how magnetic reconnection at the heliospheric current sheet (HCS).
The HCS is where the interplanetary field reverses its polarity, energizing charged particles to extremely high energies.
“These findings indicate that magnetic reconnection in the HCS is an important source of energetic particles in the near-Sun solar wind.
“Everywhere there are magnetic fields, there will be magnetic reconnection. But the Sun’s magnetic fields are much stronger near the star, so there’s a lot more stored energy to be released,” Desai said.
Experts say magnetic reconnection, which occurs when magnetic field lines converge, break apart and reconnect in an explosive physical process, energises particles and generates high-speed flows.
At the heart of space weather, reconnection is responsible for powerful solar events, such as solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), an explosive outburst of plasma from the Sun.
The Parker Solar Probe was developed as part of NASA’s Living With a Star programme to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society.
The Living With a Star programme is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Centre for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
The Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory designed, built and operates the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA.
