Scientists pinpoint the origin of the energetic electrons thrown out by the Sun
Click for original image.
Using Europe’s Solar Orbiter probe, scientists have now successfully identified the two sources of the energetic electrons accelerated at high speed by the Sun, and in doing so also determined why those particles sometimes arrive later than expected.
The Sun is the most energetic particle accelerator in the Solar System. It whips up electrons to nearly the speed of light and flings them out into space, flooding the Solar System with so-called ‘Solar Energetic Electrons’ (SEEs). Researchers have now used Solar Orbiter to pinpoint the source of these energetic electrons and trace what we see out in space back to what’s actually happening on the Sun. They find two kinds of SEE with clearly distinct stories: one connected to intense solar flares (explosions from smaller patches of the Sun’s surface), and one to larger eruptions of hot gas from the Sun’s atmosphere (known as ‘coronal mass ejections’, or CMEs).
“We see a clear split between ‘impulsive’ particle events, where these energetic electrons speed off the Sun’s surface in bursts via solar flares, and ‘gradual’ ones associated with more extended CMEs, which release a swell of particles over longer periods of time and over broader angular ranges,” says lead author Alexander Warmuth of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), Germany.
The researchers observed 300 events between November 2020 and December 2022 at many different distances from the Sun, allowing them to clock their travel times. The graphic above illustrates what they found.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Click for original image.
Using Europe’s Solar Orbiter probe, scientists have now successfully identified the two sources of the energetic electrons accelerated at high speed by the Sun, and in doing so also determined why those particles sometimes arrive later than expected.
The Sun is the most energetic particle accelerator in the Solar System. It whips up electrons to nearly the speed of light and flings them out into space, flooding the Solar System with so-called ‘Solar Energetic Electrons’ (SEEs). Researchers have now used Solar Orbiter to pinpoint the source of these energetic electrons and trace what we see out in space back to what’s actually happening on the Sun. They find two kinds of SEE with clearly distinct stories: one connected to intense solar flares (explosions from smaller patches of the Sun’s surface), and one to larger eruptions of hot gas from the Sun’s atmosphere (known as ‘coronal mass ejections’, or CMEs).
“We see a clear split between ‘impulsive’ particle events, where these energetic electrons speed off the Sun’s surface in bursts via solar flares, and ‘gradual’ ones associated with more extended CMEs, which release a swell of particles over longer periods of time and over broader angular ranges,” says lead author Alexander Warmuth of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), Germany.
The researchers observed 300 events between November 2020 and December 2022 at many different distances from the Sun, allowing them to clock their travel times. The graphic above illustrates what they found.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
“5-Year Time-lapse of the Sun”
NASA/Goddard: Solar Dynamics Observatory (2015)
https://youtu.be/w-41gAPmUG0?list=RDw-41gAPmUG0
2:55
“This time-lapse video captures one frame every 8 hours starting when data became available in June 2010 and finishing February 8, 2015.”
“Atlas V Solar Orbiter Launch Highlights”
ULA (February 2020)
https://youtu.be/Em7YbFk0tFU
2:10
“A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 configuration rocket launched the Solar Orbiter spacecraft on its journey to study the sun for the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA on Feb. 9, 2020, at 11:03 p.m. EST.”