Every now and then, the Sun's magnetic field burps massive clouds of plasma outward space behind. This is called Coronal mass ejections (CMEs). If one hits the CME LandFor example, the result can be amazing twilight – And amazing disturbances in electrical networks Satellites.
now, NASA's Parker Solar Probe He got his first-ever peek inside the CME as it erupted the sun. What lies inside appears to be a valuable treasure for solar physicists. The Parker Solar Probe's Wide Field Visible Light Imager (WISPR) captured clear, turbulent eddies within the coronal ejection.
The vortices are what physicists call Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI). Physicists believe that KHI events occur when one piece of fast-moving fluid interacts with another. On Earth, KHI in clouds occurs when the wind speed at one end of the cloud differs from that at the other end.
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Solar physicists have concluded that KHI is present in the CME, where the plasma in the CME moves in opposition to the background. Solar wind. But they never had the right equipment, in the right place, to observe this phenomenon.
“The turbulence that gives rise to the KHI plays an essential role in regulating the dynamics of a coronal ejection streaming through the surrounding solar wind,” said Evangelos Boris, a solar physicist at George Mason University. a permit. “Therefore, understanding turbulence is key to achieving a deeper understanding of coronal ejection evolution and kinematics.”
The Parker Solar Probe was launched on August 12, 2018. Since then, the probe's elliptical orbit has allowed it to enter the Sun's corona closer than ever before — in essence, it became the first human-made object to enter the Sun's outer atmosphere, just 11.5 Sun radii from surface of the sun.
So far, Parker Solar Probe has not entered its final orbit. The probe has flown repeatedly Venus In order to use the planet gravity To enhance its speed and tighten its orbit around the sun. In November this year, the probe will fly by Venus for the seventh time timecausing its ring around the Sun to tighten again, allowing it to pass within only 9.5 solar radii of the Sun in 2025 and beyond.
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