Tag

Solar Physics

All articles tagged with #solar physics

space1 day ago•163 min saved

Seventeen-Spacecraft Observation Reveals Two-Part Solar Eruption

A December 2024 coronal mass ejection was tracked by a record 17 spacecraft spread across the solar system, showing the eruption consisted of two asymmetric lobes traveling at different speeds rather than a single front. This wide, off-axis coverage allowed scientists to reconstruct the CME’s two-dimensional shape and evolution, improving forecasts of how such solar storms propagate and boosting warning time for future crewed missions beyond Earth. Observations came from missions including SOHO, SDO, STEREO-A, MMS, ARTEMIS, Wind, ACE, GOES, DSCOVR, BepiColombo, MAVEN, Solar Orbiter, Europa Clipper, and others; the findings were published in Science Advances.

via Space|

#coronal-mass-ejection #heliophysics #multi-spacecraft

science11 days ago•5 min saved

Aditya-L1 uncovers magnetic fix behind the Sun's scorching corona

New findings from India's Aditya-L1 mission show the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, is heated mainly by magnetic-field-line reconnection (≈93%), with surface waves contributing about 7%. By analyzing a highly energetic CME on 5 August 2024, scientists quantified energy replenishment and confirmed the corona remains exceptionally hot despite repeated eruptions; the results, published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, provide a key benchmark for solar physics.

via BBC|

#aditya-l1 #corona #magnetic-reconnection

science14 days ago•19 min saved

Maui’s Sun-Telescope: how a 3.6-ton mirror stays cool enough to image the Sun

On Maui’s Haleakalā, the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope uses a 3.6-ton Zerodur primary mirror and a seven-mile Dynalene coolant loop across 13 independent temperature zones; a heat-stop dumps about 95% of the incoming heat from a 12 kW beam, with nightly ice cooling to prevent overheating, enabling the sharpest solar images yet (roughly 20 km resolution) and revealing fine-scale solar features while funding questions loom over its operation.

via Autonocion.com|

#cooling-system #inouye-solar-telescope #kelvin-helmholtz-instability

space15 days ago•156 min saved

Sun's Sharpest-Ever Image Reveals Kelvin-Helmholtz Swirls

Scientists using the NSF Inouye Solar Telescope captured the sun’s sharpest-ever surface image, revealing intricate swirl patterns at the edges of magnetic regions that indicate Kelvin-Helmholtz instability; the findings, published in Nature, mark a major advance in understanding solar and stellar plasma dynamics.

via Space|

#inouye-solar-telescope #kelvin-helmholtz-instability #nature

science16 days ago•3 min saved

NASA’s sky-high eclipse mission reveals the Sun’s hidden fireworks

NASA will fly a WB-57 research plane at about 50,000 feet off Iceland to chase a total solar eclipse, using high-speed cameras to capture the Sun’s corona—prominences and nanoflares—in order to extend totality for nearly three minutes and gather data that improves understanding of solar physics and space weather, a method favored over ground- or space-based observations for its data richness despite harsh conditions, building on a long history of eclipse missions.

via The Guardian|

#nanoflares #nasa #science

science16 days ago•6 min saved

Sun Reveals Magnetic Whirlpools in Ultra-Clear Solar Images

Ultra-detailed images from the Inouye Solar Telescope show Kelvin-Helmholtz swirl patterns in the Sun’s magnetic field, with vortices about 50–65 kilometers apart. These twisting motions transfer and concentrate magnetic energy, potentially fueling solar eruptions such as flares and coronal mass ejections, which can affect space weather and threaten power grids and satellites.

via boingboing.net|

#inouye-solar-telescope #kelvin-helmholtz-instability #science

science16 days ago•40 min saved

Sun Surface Unveils Kelvin-Helmholtz Vortices, Illuminating Solar Magnetism

Scientists using the Daniel Inouye Solar Telescope on Haleakalā captured high‑resolution images of the Sun’s surface, revealing small plasma vortices formed by Kelvin‑Helmholtz Instability. These vortices help drive magnetic field mixing and heat transport toward the Sun’s outer atmosphere, offering new insights into solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and why the Sun’s atmosphere is hotter than its surface.

via Good News Network|

#astronomy #science #solar-physics

space18 days ago•164 min saved

Sun’s surface reveals Kelvin–Helmholtz whirlpools captured by the Inouye Solar Telescope

New ultra-high-resolution images from the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope reveal thousands of tiny whirlpools on the Sun’s surface, providing the first direct observation of Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities on the Sun. The observed vortices, matching computer simulations, may help mix magnetic fields and contribute to heating the corona and driving space-weather events like solar flares and CMEs.

via Live Science|

#corona-heating #inouye-solar-telescope #kelvin-helmholtz-instability

science-space19 days ago•203 min saved

Sun’s surface whirlpools revealed by ultra-high-resolution telescope

Using the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope near Maui, scientists captured the Sun’s visible surface in unprecedented detail, revealing Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities—tiny swirling vortices along magnetic boundaries—that could explain why the Sun’s outer atmosphere (the corona) is hotter than its surface and how magnetic energy is built, released and transported to drive solar flares and coronal mass ejections. The observations align with advanced simulations and may improve space-weather forecasting that affects satellites and power grids.

via CNN|

#coronal-heating #inouye-solar-telescope #kelvin-helmholtz-instability

science19 days ago•46 min saved

Sun's surface reveals tiny plasma vortices captured in unprecedented detail

Using the world’s largest solar telescope, astronomers captured the Sun’s visible surface at unprecedented resolution, revealing vortices as small as about 12 miles wide at the edges of solar granules and linking them to Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities driven by convection and magnetic fields, shedding light on the dynamic processes shaping the Sun’s photosphere.

via Yahoo|

#inouye-solar-telescope #kelvin-helmholtz-instability #plasma

science20 days ago•6 min saved

Sun Surface Reveals Ubiquitous Whirlpools in New High-Res Images

High-resolution images from the NSF’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope show Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities across the Sun’s magnetic boundaries, revealing ubiquitous small-scale whirlpools that may help mix plasma and magnetic fields, influence energy transport, and contribute to understanding space weather; findings published in Nature.

via ScienceAlert|

#inouye-solar-telescope #kelvin-helmholtz-instabilities #science

science20 days ago•17 min saved

Ultra-high-res sun video reveals plasma whirlpools on its surface

A new high-resolution video of the sun’s surface captured by the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope shows turbulent, vortex-like plasma structures, supporting Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and offering clues about solar magnetic energy and coronal heating.

via The Washington Post|

#kelvin-helmholtz-instability #plasma #science

space1 month ago•14 min saved

Gravity, not a bigger engine, drives Parker Solar Probe's sun-speed record

Parker Solar Probe reached a record ~430,000 mph near the Sun not primarily through propulsion, but through seven Venus gravity assists over seven years that gradually lowered its solar orbit. As the probe fell closer to the Sun, the Sun's gravity converted potential energy into kinetic energy, making it the fastest human-made object in history. The feat highlights orbital design and gravity as key drivers in spaceflight, while the mission continues to study the Sun’s corona and solar wind.

via Space Daily|

#gravity-assist #orbital-mechanics #parker-solar-probe

space2 months ago•96 min saved

Sun's preflare signals mapped hours before a powerful X9 flare

Space.com reports that scientists using IRIS data captured a rare preflare window for the Oct. 3, 2024 X9 solar flare. They tracked three plasma properties—brightness, line-of-sight velocity, and non-thermal velocity (turbulence)—which began rising about three hours before eruption and showed regular oscillations (roughly 7–10 minutes and 18–21 minutes) near a boundary where opposite magnetic fields meet. About 15–20 minutes before the flare, the sun’s atmosphere became more volatile, signaling possible magnetic energy release. While the study suggests a potential precursor signature from combining these signals, it analyses a single event, and more flares must be studied before reliable early warnings can be developed. The findings were published in Solar Physics.

via Space|

#solar-flare #solar-physics #space

space2 months ago•14 min saved

The Sun's Hidden Odyssey: Photons Spend Thousands to Millions of Years in the Solar Interior

Light takes about eight minutes to reach Earth, but the energy it carries was generated in the Sun’s core tens of thousands to millions of years ago. In the radiative zone, photons undergo a slow, random-walk diffusion, with a commonly cited average travel time of ~170,000 years from core to surface. The photons that finally escape the photosphere are new particles carrying energy that’s been migrating outward for a very long time, and the famous phrase “the photon you see now is 100,000 years old” is a simplification. Some analyses (Kelvin–Helmholtz considerations) push the relevant energy-migration timescale to tens of millions of years, meaning the eight-minute Earthward leg is only the final step in a prolonged solar interior journey.

via Space Daily|

#photon-diffusion #photosphere #radiative-zone