Tag: solar orbiter

Technology

Sun-observing spacecraft sheds light on the solar wind’s origin

The solar wind is a ubiquitous feature of our solar system. This relentless high-speed flow of charged particles from the sun fills interplanetary space. On Earth, it triggers geomagnetic storms that can disrupt satellites and it causes the dazzling auroras - the northern and southern lights - at high latitudes.But precisely how the sun generates the solar wind has remained unclear. New observations by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft may provide an answer. Researchers on Thursday said the spacecraft has detected numerous relatively small jets of charged particles expelled intermittently from the corona - the sun's outer atmosphere - at supersonic speeds for 20 to 100 seconds. The jets emanate from structures on the corona called coronal holes where the sun's magnetic field stretches into ...
Technology

Solar orbiter reveals plasma jets as potential source of Solar Wind

The ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter has uncovered a series of brief material jets emerging from the sun's outer layer, each lasting 20 to 100 seconds and expelling plasma at 100 km/s. These jets hold the potential to be the elusive source of the solar wind. The solar wind, a stream of charged particles, continuously escapes the sun and interacts with celestial bodies. Upon colliding with Earth's magnetic field, it produces auroras. Understanding the solar wind's origin near the sun has been a longstanding challenge. However, the Solar Orbiter's advanced instruments have made significant progress. Data from the spacecraft's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) reveals faint, transient features at the sun's south pole associated with small plasma jets. Lakshmi Pradeep Chitta from the Max Planck Ins...
Technology

Shocking! CME with SEVERE solar storm potential hits Solar Orbiter satellite at 1500 km per second

After the Earth was struck by two different coronal mass ejection (CME) clouds in successive days, many believed this was the end of the Sun's assault during the week at hand. But another event has shocked the astronomy community. On July 26, a farside flare eruption released an extremely powerful CME and it hit the European Space Agency (ESA) operated Solar Orbiter satellite. Luckily, the CME cloud delivered a glancing blow as it was moving in a different direction, but if it was Earth-directed it could have sparked a severe solar storm event owing to its incredible intensity.According to a report by SpaceWeather.com, “Two days ago, a bright CME rocketed away from the farside of the sun. Its plane-of-sky speed in SOHO coronagraph images exceeded 1,500 km/s. If this CME had hit Earth, ...
Technology

Astonishing! ESA Solar Orbiter captures stunning visuals of the Sun

The European Space Agency’s space laboratory has captured the Sun in stunning detail. The Sun has been an object of scientific interest for hundreds of years with the first observations of the Sun dating back to 2300 B.C. by Chinese astronomers. However, with the advancement of technology, it has become relatively easy to collect and study data about this bright star at the center of our solar system. The European Space Agency had sent a complex space laboratory called the Solar Orbiter with a mission to capture close-up images of the Sun and collect important data which could help unravel the mysteries of this highly luminous object.The Solar Orbiter has captured extremely detailed stunning visuals of the Sun. The space laboratory made its latest close approach to the Sun on October...
Technology

The Sun has a weapon to destroy Earth and it is called the CME storm

Earth has a nemesis from the Sun and it’s called the CME storm or CME induced solar storm. The Sun has been increasingly blasting powerful solar storms towards the Earth ever since the beginning of 2022. And this will continue till 2023 when it reaches the peak of its solar maximum phase and that poses a big problem for Earth. While the majority of these storms have been largely harmless, some of them have had devastating consequences for us. Earlier this year, 40 Starlink satellites were destroyed by a solar storm and these days they regularly disrupt shortwave radio transmission and GPS functioning. These solar storms, which cause noticeable damage to Earth, are called CME storms or coronal mass ejection storms. But what a...
Technology

ESA-NASA solar orbiter hit by terrifying coronal mass ejection near Venus

The ESA-NASA solar orbiter has survived an enormous coronal mass ejection from the Sun that was flung out in the early hours of Sunday, September 4. Here is all you need to know. The ESA-NASA Solar Orbiter has just survived a terrifying coronal mass ejection out there in space when it flew by Venus for a gravity-assist manoeuvre that alters the spacecraft's orbit, getting it even closer to the Sun. Informing about the same the European Space Agency (ESA) said in a report, "In the early hours of Sunday, 4 September, Solar Orbiter flew by Venus for a gravity-assist manoeuvre that alters the spacecraft's orbit, getting it even closer to the Sun. As if trying to get the orbiter's attention as it cosied up to another body in the ...
Technology

ALERT! ESA Solar Orbiter spacecraft HIT by Coronal Mass Ejection from the Sun

ESA’s Solar Orbiter was hit by a recent Coronal Mass Ejection which erupted from the surface of the Sun. Here’s what ESA said regarding the incident. Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) have been a frequent occurrence these past few days with nearly 32 CMEs erupting from the surface of the Sun in the last week alone. Our Sun is nearing its peak in its 11-year solar cycle which has resulted in increasing solar activity these past few months. As the Sun enters the peak of the solar cycle around 2025, solar activity is expected to further increase substantially.A recent CME which erupted from the surface of the Sun hit the European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar Orbiter which flew by Venus for a gravity-assist manoeuvre in the early hour...