New research led by a Southwest Research Institute scientist identified a new source of energetic particles near the Sun.
New research led by a Southwest Research Institute scientist identified a new source of energetic particles near the Sun. These definitive 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.
These new results offer fresh perspectives on how magnetic reconnection could heat the solar atmosphere, which then transitions into the solar wind, and also 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, observing how this explosive physical process converts stored magnetic energy into kinetic energy and heat,” said SwRI’s Dr. Mihir Desai, lead author of a new paper about this research. “Now Parker has made direct observations of how magnetic reconnection at the heliospheric current sheet (HCS), where the interplanetary field reverses its polarity, energizes charged particles to extremely high energies.”
Read More: Southwest Research Institute
An SwRI-led study identified particles accelerated to extremely high energies by magnetic reconnection near the Sun. As NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (trajectory shown in green) crossed the heliospheric current sheet, it encountered merging magnetic islands (blues) and protons accelerated toward the Sun, establishing reconnection as their source, distinct from unrelated solar processes. (Photo Credit: JHUAPL)
