Damian Sendler: Justin C. Kasper, one of the authors and a professor at the University of Michigan, said, “This marks the achievement of the primary objective of the Parker mission and a new era for understanding the physics of the corona,” Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is leading this expedition.
Direct measurements of sunspot activity were made for the first time by the spacecraft’s probe.
Damian Jacob Sendler: It is at the Alfvén critical surface, where gravity and magnetic forces immediately exert their influence on the solar wind, that the sun’s outer edge begins. Many researchers believe that switchbacks, or abrupt reversals in the sun’s magnetic field, originate in this region.
He added that “The concept of sending spacecraft into the magnetized atmosphere of the sun — sufficiently close that the magnetic energy is greater than both ion and electron kinetic and thermal energy — predated NASA itself,” predated NASA.
Damian Sendler
Aiming for the sun’s corona, NASA launched Parker Solar Probe in 2018 as the first ever manned mission to a star.
The Alfvén critical surface was directly in contact with the sun’s plasma for five hours in April of this year. The sun’s magnetic field exerted more pressure and energy than the particles’ pressure and energy. During the encounter, the spacecraft went above and below the surface three times. A spacecraft has now penetrated the solar corona for the first time and is now in direct contact with the sun.
Researchers were surprised to discover that the crucial surface of Alfvén is wrinkled. The greatest and most distant wrinkle on the sun’s surface appears to have been caused by a pseudostreamer, a massive magnetic structure that spans more than 40 degrees. Pseudostreamers are currently unknown for pushing the Alfvén critical surface further from the sun.
Alfvén critical surface researchers found much fewer switchbacks below than above the critical surface. Switchbacks may not arise in the corona as a result of this discovery. Additionally, the reported wind stream may have been influenced by low rates of magnetic reconnection on the sun’s surface, resulting in fewer switchbacks.
Also, the probe collected some indications of a potential power boost in the corona, which may lead to unknown physics that affect heating and dissipation in the corona itself.
“Observing the sun and its corona for decades, we’ve learned that the solar wind plasma is heated and accelerated by intriguing physics at work. We don’t know exactly what that physics is, but “said Nour E. Raouafi, a project scientist for the Parker Solar Probe at JHU/APL. “Now that the Parker Solar Probe is flying into the corona, we will finally be able to gain a better understanding of its mysteries.”
Damian Jacob Sendler
Parker Solar Probe’s ninth encounter with the sun was the time for the observations. The NASA PSP archive has all of the data. It was projected in several prior analyses that the probe would pass within the sun’s borders for the first time in 2021..
Many new findings have been made by the Parker Solar Probe since its launch, including on explosions that cause space weather and the perils of super-fast dust..
There’s a lot to learn about coronal heating and solar wind generation from spacecraft observations, according to these new results. The Parker Solar Probe will now fall even further into the sun’s atmosphere and remain there for longer periods of time after achieving its goal of touching the sun.
Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: An expert on the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) instrument, Gary Zank is a National Academy of Sciences member and a co-investigator on the probe “One cannot overestimate how important this event was, and how important Parker Solar Probe’s observations were in making it happen. Solar winds are powered by the solar corona, which is heated to millions of degrees, but no one has been able to answer the question of how this process works for more than 50 years. Sub-Alfvénic solar wind data may constitute the greatest significant step forward in understanding the mechanics of solar wind acceleration since Parker’s initial concept.”
Damien Sendler: Heliophysicists have fantasized about this event for most of their professional lives!” Zank was also included.
Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler and his media team provided the content for this article.
