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#solarwind — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #solarwind, aggregated by home.social.

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  1. Nice review on #MagneticReconnection 🧲 ❌ in #Mars’ space environment:

    📝 doi.org/10.1007/s11038-026-095

    Lin, R., Huang, S., Jiang, K. et al. Recent advances in magnetic reconnection in Mars’ space environment

    Unlike #Earth, Mars has no global intrinsic dipole field. Its #plasma environment is shaped by the #SolarWind, an induced #magnetosphere, localized crustal #MagneticFields, and heavy planetary ions. …makes Mars a fascinating laboratory for reconnection physics.

    #SpacePhysics #PlanetaryScience

  2. Nice review on #MagneticReconnection 🧲 ❌ in #Mars’ space environment:

    📝 doi.org/10.1007/s11038-026-095

    Lin, R., Huang, S., Jiang, K. et al. Recent advances in magnetic reconnection in Mars’ space environment

    Unlike #Earth, Mars has no global intrinsic dipole field. Its #plasma environment is shaped by the #SolarWind, an induced #magnetosphere, localized crustal #MagneticFields, and heavy planetary ions. …makes Mars a fascinating laboratory for reconnection physics.

    #SpacePhysics #PlanetaryScience

  3. Nice review on #MagneticReconnection 🧲 ❌ in #Mars’ space environment:

    📝 doi.org/10.1007/s11038-026-095

    Lin, R., Huang, S., Jiang, K. et al. Recent advances in magnetic reconnection in Mars’ space environment

    Unlike #Earth, Mars has no global intrinsic dipole field. Its #plasma environment is shaped by the #SolarWind, an induced #magnetosphere, localized crustal #MagneticFields, and heavy planetary ions. …makes Mars a fascinating laboratory for reconnection physics.

    #SpacePhysics #PlanetaryScience

  4. Nice review on #MagneticReconnection 🧲 ❌ in #Mars’ space environment:

    📝 doi.org/10.1007/s11038-026-095

    Lin, R., Huang, S., Jiang, K. et al. Recent advances in magnetic reconnection in Mars’ space environment

    Unlike #Earth, Mars has no global intrinsic dipole field. Its #plasma environment is shaped by the #SolarWind, an induced #magnetosphere, localized crustal #MagneticFields, and heavy planetary ions. …makes Mars a fascinating laboratory for reconnection physics.

    #SpacePhysics #PlanetaryScience

  5. Nice review on #MagneticReconnection 🧲 ❌ in #Mars’ space environment:

    📝 doi.org/10.1007/s11038-026-095

    Lin, R., Huang, S., Jiang, K. et al. Recent advances in magnetic reconnection in Mars’ space environment

    Unlike #Earth, Mars has no global intrinsic dipole field. Its #plasma environment is shaped by the #SolarWind, an induced #magnetosphere, localized crustal #MagneticFields, and heavy planetary ions. …makes Mars a fascinating laboratory for reconnection physics.

    #SpacePhysics #PlanetaryScience

  6. Stripping Mars’ Atmosphere

    Mars was once a warmer, wetter place, swathed in a thick and protective atmosphere. Unlike Earth, Mars lacks a strong global magnetic field, which allows the solar wind to strip its atmosphere, but the exact mechanisms of that process have been unclear. But a new study has caught the process in action.

    Illustration of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability occurring as the solar wind and Mars’ electric field interact.

    By combining simultaneous measurements from two spacecraft–NASA’s MAVEN and China’s Tianwen-1–the team was able to monitor the upstream solar wind conditions and the atmospheric ions escaping. They found that previously-observed “plasma clouds” in the Martian atmosphere result from a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability between the solar wind and Mars’ electric field. Within these clouds, the ion flux is ten to a hundred times greater than at steady-state conditions.

    This mechanism directly couples ion escape from Mars’ atmosphere to the solar wind, and it’s likely that this process plays out for other unmagnetized planets as well. (Image credit: Mars – NASA, illustration – C. Zhang et al.; research credit: C. Zhang et al.; via Gizmodo)

    #fluidDynamics #KelvinHelmholtzInstability #magnetohydrodynamics #Mars #physics #planetaryScience #science #solarWind
  7. Stripping Mars’ Atmosphere

    Mars was once a warmer, wetter place, swathed in a thick and protective atmosphere. Unlike Earth, Mars lacks a strong global magnetic field, which allows the solar wind to strip its atmosphere, but the exact mechanisms of that process have been unclear. But a new study has caught the process in action.

    Illustration of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability occurring as the solar wind and Mars’ electric field interact.

    By combining simultaneous measurements from two spacecraft–NASA’s MAVEN and China’s Tianwen-1–the team was able to monitor the upstream solar wind conditions and the atmospheric ions escaping. They found that previously-observed “plasma clouds” in the Martian atmosphere result from a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability between the solar wind and Mars’ electric field. Within these clouds, the ion flux is ten to a hundred times greater than at steady-state conditions.

    This mechanism directly couples ion escape from Mars’ atmosphere to the solar wind, and it’s likely that this process plays out for other unmagnetized planets as well. (Image credit: Mars – NASA, illustration – C. Zhang et al.; research credit: C. Zhang et al.; via Gizmodo)

    #fluidDynamics #KelvinHelmholtzInstability #magnetohydrodynamics #Mars #physics #planetaryScience #science #solarWind
  8. Stripping Mars’ Atmosphere

    Mars was once a warmer, wetter place, swathed in a thick and protective atmosphere. Unlike Earth, Mars lacks a strong global magnetic field, which allows the solar wind to strip its atmosphere, but the exact mechanisms of that process have been unclear. But a new study has caught the process in action.

    Illustration of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability occurring as the solar wind and Mars’ electric field interact.

    By combining simultaneous measurements from two spacecraft–NASA’s MAVEN and China’s Tianwen-1–the team was able to monitor the upstream solar wind conditions and the atmospheric ions escaping. They found that previously-observed “plasma clouds” in the Martian atmosphere result from a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability between the solar wind and Mars’ electric field. Within these clouds, the ion flux is ten to a hundred times greater than at steady-state conditions.

    This mechanism directly couples ion escape from Mars’ atmosphere to the solar wind, and it’s likely that this process plays out for other unmagnetized planets as well. (Image credit: Mars – NASA, illustration – C. Zhang et al.; research credit: C. Zhang et al.; via Gizmodo)

    #fluidDynamics #KelvinHelmholtzInstability #magnetohydrodynamics #Mars #physics #planetaryScience #science #solarWind
  9. Stripping Mars’ Atmosphere

    Mars was once a warmer, wetter place, swathed in a thick and protective atmosphere. Unlike Earth, Mars lacks a strong global magnetic field, which allows the solar wind to strip its atmosphere, but the exact mechanisms of that process have been unclear. But a new study has caught the process in action.

    Illustration of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability occurring as the solar wind and Mars’ electric field interact.

    By combining simultaneous measurements from two spacecraft–NASA’s MAVEN and China’s Tianwen-1–the team was able to monitor the upstream solar wind conditions and the atmospheric ions escaping. They found that previously-observed “plasma clouds” in the Martian atmosphere result from a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability between the solar wind and Mars’ electric field. Within these clouds, the ion flux is ten to a hundred times greater than at steady-state conditions.

    This mechanism directly couples ion escape from Mars’ atmosphere to the solar wind, and it’s likely that this process plays out for other unmagnetized planets as well. (Image credit: Mars – NASA, illustration – C. Zhang et al.; research credit: C. Zhang et al.; via Gizmodo)

    #fluidDynamics #KelvinHelmholtzInstability #magnetohydrodynamics #Mars #physics #planetaryScience #science #solarWind
  10. Stripping Mars’ Atmosphere

    Mars was once a warmer, wetter place, swathed in a thick and protective atmosphere. Unlike Earth, Mars lacks a strong global magnetic field, which allows the solar wind to strip its atmosphere, but the exact mechanisms of that process have been unclear. But a new study has caught the process in action.

    Illustration of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability occurring as the solar wind and Mars’ electric field interact.

    By combining simultaneous measurements from two spacecraft–NASA’s MAVEN and China’s Tianwen-1–the team was able to monitor the upstream solar wind conditions and the atmospheric ions escaping. They found that previously-observed “plasma clouds” in the Martian atmosphere result from a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability between the solar wind and Mars’ electric field. Within these clouds, the ion flux is ten to a hundred times greater than at steady-state conditions.

    This mechanism directly couples ion escape from Mars’ atmosphere to the solar wind, and it’s likely that this process plays out for other unmagnetized planets as well. (Image credit: Mars – NASA, illustration – C. Zhang et al.; research credit: C. Zhang et al.; via Gizmodo)

    #fluidDynamics #KelvinHelmholtzInstability #magnetohydrodynamics #Mars #physics #planetaryScience #science #solarWind
  11. Giant Waves of Solar Wind May Have Stripped Mars of Its Atmosphere, New Study Finds

    Although Mars is a frigid and hostile world today, the Red Planet may have once been capable of…
    #NewsBeep #News #Science #AU #Australia #Habitability #Mars #Solarwind #theSun
    newsbeep.com/au/843297/

  12. Giant Waves of Solar Wind May Have Stripped Mars of Its Atmosphere, New Study Finds

    Although Mars is a frigid and hostile world today, the Red Planet may have once been capable of…
    #NewsBeep #News #Science #AU #Australia #Habitability #Mars #Solarwind #theSun
    newsbeep.com/au/843297/

  13. Long After #Pluto Fly-By, #NASA's #NewHorizon's Probe Wakes Up Again, Starts Doing New Science, nearly 6 billion miles from Earth. It is ready to transmit a stream of science data gathered during hibernation from its location in the region of icy objects known as #KuiperBelt.
    #Spacecraft also measures the distribution of gas in the outer #heliosphere, the expansive, protective bubble formed by a steady stream of particles that release from the sun called the #solarwind.
    cnn.com/2026/07/16/science/new

  14. Long After #Pluto Fly-By, #NASA's #NewHorizon's Probe Wakes Up Again, Starts Doing New Science, nearly 6 billion miles from Earth. It is ready to transmit a stream of science data gathered during hibernation from its location in the region of icy objects known as #KuiperBelt.
    #Spacecraft also measures the distribution of gas in the outer #heliosphere, the expansive, protective bubble formed by a steady stream of particles that release from the sun called the #solarwind.
    cnn.com/2026/07/16/science/new

  15. Long After Fly-By, 's 's Probe Wakes Up Again, Starts Doing New Science, nearly 6 billion miles from Earth. It is ready to transmit a stream of science data gathered during hibernation from its location in the region of icy objects known as .
    also measures the distribution of gas in the outer , the expansive, protective bubble formed by a steady stream of particles that release from the sun called the .
    cnn.com/2026/07/16/science/new

  16. Long After #Pluto Fly-By, #NASA's #NewHorizon's Probe Wakes Up Again, Starts Doing New Science, nearly 6 billion miles from Earth. It is ready to transmit a stream of science data gathered during hibernation from its location in the region of icy objects known as #KuiperBelt.
    #Spacecraft also measures the distribution of gas in the outer #heliosphere, the expansive, protective bubble formed by a steady stream of particles that release from the sun called the #solarwind.
    cnn.com/2026/07/16/science/new

  17. Long After #Pluto Fly-By, #NASA's #NewHorizon's Probe Wakes Up Again, Starts Doing New Science, nearly 6 billion miles from Earth. It is ready to transmit a stream of science data gathered during hibernation from its location in the region of icy objects known as #KuiperBelt.
    #Spacecraft also measures the distribution of gas in the outer #heliosphere, the expansive, protective bubble formed by a steady stream of particles that release from the sun called the #solarwind.
    cnn.com/2026/07/16/science/new

  18. Deeper solar wind penetration on the Moon’s farside from noble gas records: nature.com/articles/s41561-026 -> Samples reveal how Earth slows #SolarWind striking moon's near side: phys.org/news/2026-07-samples-

  19. Deeper solar wind penetration on the Moon’s farside from noble gas records: nature.com/articles/s41561-026 -> Samples reveal how Earth slows #SolarWind striking moon's near side: phys.org/news/2026-07-samples-

  20. Deeper solar wind penetration on the Moon’s farside from noble gas records: nature.com/articles/s41561-026 -> Samples reveal how Earth slows #SolarWind striking moon's near side: phys.org/news/2026-07-samples-

  21. Deeper solar wind penetration on the Moon’s farside from noble gas records: nature.com/articles/s41561-026 -> Samples reveal how Earth slows #SolarWind striking moon's near side: phys.org/news/2026-07-samples-

  22. Deeper solar wind penetration on the Moon’s farside from noble gas records: nature.com/articles/s41561-026 -> Samples reveal how Earth slows #SolarWind striking moon's near side: phys.org/news/2026-07-samples-

  23. NASA’s New Horizons Reveals a Hidden Interstellar Slowdown at the Solar System’s Edge

    For obvious reasons, the Sun’s influence weakens as you get closer to the edge of the solar system.…
    #NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Space #interstellarprobes #Science #solarsystem #SolarWind
    newsbeep.com/us/735355/

  24. NASA’s New Horizons Reveals a Hidden Interstellar Slowdown at the Solar System’s Edge

    For obvious reasons, the Sun’s influence weakens as you get closer to the edge of the solar system.…
    #NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Space #interstellarprobes #Science #solarsystem #SolarWind
    newsbeep.com/us/735355/

  25. NASA’s New Horizons Reveals a Hidden Interstellar Slowdown at the Solar System’s Edge

    For obvious reasons, the Sun’s influence weakens as you get closer to the edge of the solar system.…
    #NewsBeep #News #Space #AU #Australia #interstellarprobes #Science #SolarSystem #Solarwind
    newsbeep.com/au/770432/

  26. NASA’s New Horizons Reveals a Hidden Interstellar Slowdown at the Solar System’s Edge

    For obvious reasons, the Sun’s influence weakens as you get closer to the edge of the solar system.…
    #NewsBeep #News #Space #AU #Australia #interstellarprobes #Science #SolarSystem #Solarwind
    newsbeep.com/au/770432/

  27. NASA's Parker Solar Probe Flew In And Out Of The Solar Corona And Found A Source Of High-Energy Particles That No Existing Model Had Predicted
    (When NASA's Parker Solar Probe passed through the solar corona during perihelion encounters at the heliospheric current sheet, its instruments recorded energetic protons at energies far above what existing models of particle acceleration at that location could account for.)
    --
    spacedaily.com/n-nasas-parker- <-- shared technical article
    --
    doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae3c <-- shared paper
    --
    space.com/high-energy-particle <-- shared technical article
    --
    youtu.be/Woo4yZby4BU?si=rzzND3 <-- shared space weather overview effects video, #AIslop notwithstanding 🙃 🫠 😉
    --
    “… A team… at the Southwest Research Institute… and… the University of Maryland’s Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics has published an analysis of those measurements [link above]…, identifying magnetic reconnection at the heliospheric current sheet as the mechanism responsible. The proton energies detected were, in the study’s framing, approximately a thousand times greater than the available magnetic energy per particle that models of this process had predicted.
    The finding matters for two reasons: it identifies a source of energetic particles close to the Sun that was not anticipated, and it raises questions about how far the existing understanding of reconnection-driven particle acceleration extends…
    The Parker measurements suggest that picture needs revision. The magnetic island merging mechanism [the authors] identif[ied] can evidently produce proton populations at energies that challenge the boundary between what reconnection does and what shock acceleration does. Whether this source can explain a significant fraction of observed near-Earth energetic particle events, or whether it contributes mainly at energies and scales that remain confined close to the Sun, is a question the paper does not yet resolve…
    Solar Orbiter, the European Space Agency mission operating in coordination with Parker, offers complementary measurements at somewhat greater distances. Comparing what the two spacecraft measure of the same particle populations as they propagate outward from the Sun will help establish which features originate close to the source and which are modified by the intervening solar wind. The energetic particle observations that puzzled researchers in the pre-Parker era now have a candidate mechanism. Whether that mechanism accounts for a large or small fraction of what actually reaches Earth remains the open question…”
    #sun #solar #solarsystem #heliosphere #Parker #SolarOrbiter #spacecraft #research #monitoring #instrumentatin #spaceweather #solarflare #coronalmassejection #CME #NASA #ESA #magnetism #geomagnetism #proton #energy #particleacceleration #measurement #solarwind #risk #hazard #impacts #corona #perihelion #model #modeling
    @nasa @esa

  28. NASA's Parker Solar Probe Flew In And Out Of The Solar Corona And Found A Source Of High-Energy Particles That No Existing Model Had Predicted
    (When NASA's Parker Solar Probe passed through the solar corona during perihelion encounters at the heliospheric current sheet, its instruments recorded energetic protons at energies far above what existing models of particle acceleration at that location could account for.)
    --
    spacedaily.com/n-nasas-parker- <-- shared technical article
    --
    doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae3c <-- shared paper
    --
    space.com/high-energy-particle <-- shared technical article
    --
    youtu.be/Woo4yZby4BU?si=rzzND3 <-- shared space weather overview effects video, #AIslop notwithstanding 🙃 🫠 😉
    --
    “… A team… at the Southwest Research Institute… and… the University of Maryland’s Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics has published an analysis of those measurements [link above]…, identifying magnetic reconnection at the heliospheric current sheet as the mechanism responsible. The proton energies detected were, in the study’s framing, approximately a thousand times greater than the available magnetic energy per particle that models of this process had predicted.
    The finding matters for two reasons: it identifies a source of energetic particles close to the Sun that was not anticipated, and it raises questions about how far the existing understanding of reconnection-driven particle acceleration extends…
    The Parker measurements suggest that picture needs revision. The magnetic island merging mechanism [the authors] identif[ied] can evidently produce proton populations at energies that challenge the boundary between what reconnection does and what shock acceleration does. Whether this source can explain a significant fraction of observed near-Earth energetic particle events, or whether it contributes mainly at energies and scales that remain confined close to the Sun, is a question the paper does not yet resolve…
    Solar Orbiter, the European Space Agency mission operating in coordination with Parker, offers complementary measurements at somewhat greater distances. Comparing what the two spacecraft measure of the same particle populations as they propagate outward from the Sun will help establish which features originate close to the source and which are modified by the intervening solar wind. The energetic particle observations that puzzled researchers in the pre-Parker era now have a candidate mechanism. Whether that mechanism accounts for a large or small fraction of what actually reaches Earth remains the open question…”
    #sun #solar #solarsystem #heliosphere #Parker #SolarOrbiter #spacecraft #research #monitoring #instrumentatin #spaceweather #solarflare #coronalmassejection #CME #NASA #ESA #magnetism #geomagnetism #proton #energy #particleacceleration #measurement #solarwind #risk #hazard #impacts #corona #perihelion #model #modeling
    @nasa @esa

  29. NASA's Parker Solar Probe Flew In And Out Of The Solar Corona And Found A Source Of High-Energy Particles That No Existing Model Had Predicted
    (When NASA's Parker Solar Probe passed through the solar corona during perihelion encounters at the heliospheric current sheet, its instruments recorded energetic protons at energies far above what existing models of particle acceleration at that location could account for.)
    --
    spacedaily.com/n-nasas-parker- <-- shared technical article
    --
    doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae3c <-- shared paper
    --
    space.com/high-energy-particle <-- shared technical article
    --
    youtu.be/Woo4yZby4BU?si=rzzND3 <-- shared space weather overview effects video, #AIslop notwithstanding 🙃 🫠 😉
    --
    “… A team… at the Southwest Research Institute… and… the University of Maryland’s Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics has published an analysis of those measurements [link above]…, identifying magnetic reconnection at the heliospheric current sheet as the mechanism responsible. The proton energies detected were, in the study’s framing, approximately a thousand times greater than the available magnetic energy per particle that models of this process had predicted.
    The finding matters for two reasons: it identifies a source of energetic particles close to the Sun that was not anticipated, and it raises questions about how far the existing understanding of reconnection-driven particle acceleration extends…
    The Parker measurements suggest that picture needs revision. The magnetic island merging mechanism [the authors] identif[ied] can evidently produce proton populations at energies that challenge the boundary between what reconnection does and what shock acceleration does. Whether this source can explain a significant fraction of observed near-Earth energetic particle events, or whether it contributes mainly at energies and scales that remain confined close to the Sun, is a question the paper does not yet resolve…
    Solar Orbiter, the European Space Agency mission operating in coordination with Parker, offers complementary measurements at somewhat greater distances. Comparing what the two spacecraft measure of the same particle populations as they propagate outward from the Sun will help establish which features originate close to the source and which are modified by the intervening solar wind. The energetic particle observations that puzzled researchers in the pre-Parker era now have a candidate mechanism. Whether that mechanism accounts for a large or small fraction of what actually reaches Earth remains the open question…”
    #sun #solar #solarsystem #heliosphere #Parker #SolarOrbiter #spacecraft #research #monitoring #instrumentatin #spaceweather #solarflare #coronalmassejection #CME #NASA #ESA #magnetism #geomagnetism #proton #energy #particleacceleration #measurement #solarwind #risk #hazard #impacts #corona #perihelion #model #modeling
    @nasa @esa

  30. NASA's Parker Solar Probe Flew In And Out Of The Solar Corona And Found A Source Of High-Energy Particles That No Existing Model Had Predicted
    (When NASA's Parker Solar Probe passed through the solar corona during perihelion encounters at the heliospheric current sheet, its instruments recorded energetic protons at energies far above what existing models of particle acceleration at that location could account for.)
    --
    spacedaily.com/n-nasas-parker- <-- shared technical article
    --
    doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae3c <-- shared paper
    --
    space.com/high-energy-particle <-- shared technical article
    --
    youtu.be/Woo4yZby4BU?si=rzzND3 <-- shared space weather overview effects video, #AIslop notwithstanding 🙃 🫠 😉
    --
    “… A team… at the Southwest Research Institute… and… the University of Maryland’s Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics has published an analysis of those measurements [link above]…, identifying magnetic reconnection at the heliospheric current sheet as the mechanism responsible. The proton energies detected were, in the study’s framing, approximately a thousand times greater than the available magnetic energy per particle that models of this process had predicted.
    The finding matters for two reasons: it identifies a source of energetic particles close to the Sun that was not anticipated, and it raises questions about how far the existing understanding of reconnection-driven particle acceleration extends…
    The Parker measurements suggest that picture needs revision. The magnetic island merging mechanism [the authors] identif[ied] can evidently produce proton populations at energies that challenge the boundary between what reconnection does and what shock acceleration does. Whether this source can explain a significant fraction of observed near-Earth energetic particle events, or whether it contributes mainly at energies and scales that remain confined close to the Sun, is a question the paper does not yet resolve…
    Solar Orbiter, the European Space Agency mission operating in coordination with Parker, offers complementary measurements at somewhat greater distances. Comparing what the two spacecraft measure of the same particle populations as they propagate outward from the Sun will help establish which features originate close to the source and which are modified by the intervening solar wind. The energetic particle observations that puzzled researchers in the pre-Parker era now have a candidate mechanism. Whether that mechanism accounts for a large or small fraction of what actually reaches Earth remains the open question…”
    #sun #solar #solarsystem #heliosphere #Parker #SolarOrbiter #spacecraft #research #monitoring #instrumentatin #spaceweather #solarflare #coronalmassejection #CME #NASA #ESA #magnetism #geomagnetism #proton #energy #particleacceleration #measurement #solarwind #risk #hazard #impacts #corona #perihelion #model #modeling
    @nasa @esa

  31. NASA's Parker Solar Probe Flew In And Out Of The Solar Corona And Found A Source Of High-Energy Particles That No Existing Model Had Predicted
    (When NASA's Parker Solar Probe passed through the solar corona during perihelion encounters at the heliospheric current sheet, its instruments recorded energetic protons at energies far above what existing models of particle acceleration at that location could account for.)
    --
    spacedaily.com/n-nasas-parker- <-- shared technical article
    --
    doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae3c <-- shared paper
    --
    space.com/high-energy-particle <-- shared technical article
    --
    youtu.be/Woo4yZby4BU?si=rzzND3 <-- shared space weather overview effects video, notwithstanding 🙃 🫠 😉
    --
    “… A team… at the Southwest Research Institute… and… the University of Maryland’s Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics has published an analysis of those measurements [link above]…, identifying magnetic reconnection at the heliospheric current sheet as the mechanism responsible. The proton energies detected were, in the study’s framing, approximately a thousand times greater than the available magnetic energy per particle that models of this process had predicted.
    The finding matters for two reasons: it identifies a source of energetic particles close to the Sun that was not anticipated, and it raises questions about how far the existing understanding of reconnection-driven particle acceleration extends…
    The Parker measurements suggest that picture needs revision. The magnetic island merging mechanism [the authors] identif[ied] can evidently produce proton populations at energies that challenge the boundary between what reconnection does and what shock acceleration does. Whether this source can explain a significant fraction of observed near-Earth energetic particle events, or whether it contributes mainly at energies and scales that remain confined close to the Sun, is a question the paper does not yet resolve…
    Solar Orbiter, the European Space Agency mission operating in coordination with Parker, offers complementary measurements at somewhat greater distances. Comparing what the two spacecraft measure of the same particle populations as they propagate outward from the Sun will help establish which features originate close to the source and which are modified by the intervening solar wind. The energetic particle observations that puzzled researchers in the pre-Parker era now have a candidate mechanism. Whether that mechanism accounts for a large or small fraction of what actually reaches Earth remains the open question…”

    @nasa @esa

  32. Is it just me - or is it getting really hot around here?

    NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its 28th close approach to the Sun on June 8, again matching its record distance of 3.8 million miles from the solar surface.

    This latest flyby started June 3 and ends Saturday, June 13, with Parker’s four scientific instrument packages gathering data from inside the Sun’s atmosphere, or corona. Parker will begin returning detailed spacecraft telemetry on June 14, with science data transmission set to run from Wednesday, June 17 to Tuesday, June 30.
    science.nasa.gov/blogs/parker-

    science.nasa.gov/mission/parke

    #NASA #Sun #ParkerSolarProbe #Space #SpaceExploration #Corona #SolarWind #SunAtmosphere

  33. Is it just me - or is it getting really hot around here?

    NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its 28th close approach to the Sun on June 8, again matching its record distance of 3.8 million miles from the solar surface.

    This latest flyby started June 3 and ends Saturday, June 13, with Parker’s four scientific instrument packages gathering data from inside the Sun’s atmosphere, or corona. Parker will begin returning detailed spacecraft telemetry on June 14, with science data transmission set to run from Wednesday, June 17 to Tuesday, June 30.
    science.nasa.gov/blogs/parker-

    science.nasa.gov/mission/parke

    #NASA #Sun #ParkerSolarProbe #Space #SpaceExploration #Corona #SolarWind #SunAtmosphere

  34. Is it just me - or is it getting really hot around here?

    NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its 28th close approach to the Sun on June 8, again matching its record distance of 3.8 million miles from the solar surface.

    This latest flyby started June 3 and ends Saturday, June 13, with Parker’s four scientific instrument packages gathering data from inside the Sun’s atmosphere, or corona. Parker will begin returning detailed spacecraft telemetry on June 14, with science data transmission set to run from Wednesday, June 17 to Tuesday, June 30.
    science.nasa.gov/blogs/parker-

    science.nasa.gov/mission/parke

    #NASA #Sun #ParkerSolarProbe #Space #SpaceExploration #Corona #SolarWind #SunAtmosphere

  35. Is it just me - or is it getting really hot around here?

    NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its 28th close approach to the Sun on June 8, again matching its record distance of 3.8 million miles from the solar surface.

    This latest flyby started June 3 and ends Saturday, June 13, with Parker’s four scientific instrument packages gathering data from inside the Sun’s atmosphere, or corona. Parker will begin returning detailed spacecraft telemetry on June 14, with science data transmission set to run from Wednesday, June 17 to Tuesday, June 30.
    science.nasa.gov/blogs/parker-

    science.nasa.gov/mission/parke

    #NASA #Sun #ParkerSolarProbe #Space #SpaceExploration #Corona #SolarWind #SunAtmosphere

  36. Is it just me - or is it getting really hot around here?

    NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its 28th close approach to the Sun on June 8, again matching its record distance of 3.8 million miles from the solar surface.

    This latest flyby started June 3 and ends Saturday, June 13, with Parker’s four scientific instrument packages gathering data from inside the Sun’s atmosphere, or corona. Parker will begin returning detailed spacecraft telemetry on June 14, with science data transmission set to run from Wednesday, June 17 to Tuesday, June 30.
    science.nasa.gov/blogs/parker-

    science.nasa.gov/mission/parke