When a fire extinguisher is opened, the compressed carbon dioxide forms ice crystals around the nozzle, providing a visual example of the physics principle that gases and plasmas cool as they expand. When our sun expels plasma in the form of solar wind, the wind also cools as it expands through space—but not nearly as much as the laws of physics…
Tag: solar wind
PUNCH mission achieves milestone
On April 8, 2020, the Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission achieved an important milestone, passing NASA’s critical System Requirements Review/Mission Definition Review (SRR/MDR). Southwest Research Institute is leading PUNCH, a NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) mission that will integrate understanding of the Sun’s corona, the outer atmosphere visible during eclipses, with the tenuous “solar wind” filling the solar…
Top 5 Mercury mysteries that BepiColombo will solve
BepiColombo – a joint mission of Europe and Japan – successfully passed Earth last night and is now headed toward the innermost part of the solar system. Here are some questions about our sun’s innermost planet, Mercury, the spacecraft is expected to answer. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/top-5-mercury-mysteries-that-bepicolombo-will-solve…
Innovative model of the dynamic magnetic field that surrounds Mercury
Mercury, the planet nearest the sun, shares with Earth the distinction of being one of the two mountainous planets in the solar system with a global magnetic field that shields it from cosmic rays and the solar wind. Now researchers, led by physicist Chuanfei Dong of the Princeton University Center for Heliophysics and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma…
Density fluctuations in the solar wind based on type III radio bursts
Type III bursts are among the strongest radio signals routinely observed by both space-borne and ground-based instruments. They are generated via the plasma emission mechanism, when beams of suprathermal electrons interact with the ambient plasma, triggering radio emissions at the plasma frequency (the fundamental emission) or at its second harmonic (the harmonic emission). As the electron beams propagate outward from the…
What is the gegenschein?
The sun’s counterglow – or gegenschein – is kind of a stargazers’ legend. What is it, and how can you see it? Erwin Matys and Karoline Mrazek of Project Nightflight explain. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/definition-what-is-the-gegenschein…
Solar wind samples suggest new physics of massive solar ejections
A new study led by the University of Hawai’i (UH) at Mānoa has helped refine understanding of the amount of hydrogen, helium and other elements present in violent outbursts from the Sun, and other types of solar “wind,” a stream of ionized atoms ejected from the Sun. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-02-solar-samples-physics-massive-ejections.html…
Liftoff! Solar Orbiter launches successfully
ESA’s sun-exploring Solar Orbiter will be the first spacecraft ever to fly over the sun’s poles. It’ll study the origin of the solar wind, which has the potential to affect earthly technologies. Source: https://earthsky.org/todays-image/solar-orbiter-successful-lift-off-feb-10-2020…
Citizen scientists identify new form of northern lights
Space researchers and amateur photographers in Finland have identified a new type of aurora, or northern lights. They call them “dunes.” Read more and see a video. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/citizen-scientists-new-aurora-northern-lights-dunes…
Team identifies low-energy solar particles from beyond Earth near the Sun
Using data from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP), a team led by Southwest Research Institute identified low-energy particles lurking near the Sun that likely originated from solar wind interactions well beyond Earth orbit. PSP is venturing closer to the Sun than any previous probe, carrying hardware SwRI helped develop. Scientists are probing the enigmatic features of the Sun to answer many…