Tag: Solar Wind
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Parker Solar Probe takes images close to the Sun as primary mission winds down
On Dec. 24, 2024, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe traveled closer to the Sun than any spacecraft had before. During this close approach, or perihelion, the spacecraft’s four instruments observed the Sun’s atmosphere from inside. This week, NASA released images collected by the spacecraft’s Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) instrument. Since the close approach in…
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Solar Orbiter makes first ever observations of Sun’s south pole, reveals messy magnetic field
Following a flyby of Venus in February that successfully increased its orbital inclination around the Sun, the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter recently imaged the Sun’s poles for the first time. The images are the first to show how the Sun’s immense magnetic field interacts at its poles, and will improve scientists’ understanding of the…
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SPHEREx starts science observations while PUNCH commissioning continues
NASA’s latest space telescope has taken the first science observations of its two-year mission to study the universe in dozens of colors. The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) telescope maps the entire sky in 102 infrared wavelengths — or colors — to study galaxy formation, cosmic…
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NASA and ESA missions unexpectedly collaborate to reveal what accelerates solar winds
As the solar wind moves away from the Sun, it cools slower than expected and accelerates. Where the energy that powers this phenomenon comes from has long been unknown. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Solar Orbiter, when they coincidentally lined up to observe the same solar wind stream, provided scientists…
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Solar Orbiter discovers plasma jets that could fuel the production of solar wind
Recently, the joint European Space Agency (ESA)/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft discovered an array of tiny jets of material being ejected from the Sun’s outer atmosphere. Ejecting plasma at 100 kilometers per second, the jets last for just 20 to 100 seconds, and could be the source of solar wind. Solar wind is made up of…
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India launches first solar research mission, Aditya-L1, aboard PSLV
India’s space program continued its busy 2023 with the launch of its first solar research mission, Aditya-L1, on Saturday. Liftoff, aboard the country’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) XL rocket, occurred at 11:50 Indian Standard Time (06:20 UTC) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Aditya-L1 will be the first mission conducted by the Indian Space…
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Coronal heating & solar wind, returns from solar missions shed light on Sun’s mysteries
It’s one of the greatest mysteries in solar physics. Dubbed the coronal heating problem, the issue arises from the fact that the solar corona, or Sun’s atmosphere, is millions of degrees hotter than the layers directly below it. This goes against modeling that suggests the corona should be far cooler than the layers below it.…
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Solar Orbiter reveals closest pictures, new science of the Sun
The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA have released the first pictures and preliminary findings captured by the Solar Orbiter, including intriguing glimpses of “campfires” near the solar surface that could shed new light on one of the biggest solar mysteries scientists are eager to learn more about. Numerous other scientific areas of intrigue were…
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Solar Orbiter reveals closest pictures, new science of the Sun
The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA have released the first pictures and preliminary findings captured by the Solar Orbiter, including intriguing glimpses of “campfires” near the solar surface that could shed new light on one of the biggest solar mysteries scientists are eager to learn more about. Numerous other scientific areas of intrigue were…
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DSCOVR resumes operations after eight-month outage
Artist’s concept of the Deep Space Climate Observatory. Credit: NOAA The Deep Space Climate Observatory has resumed regular observations after NOAA and NASA engineers uplinked a software patch to the spacecraft a million miles from Earth, restoring data on space weather and a daily series views of the sunlit side of our home planet. The…