Gizmodo
Solar Orbiter Traces the Origin of a Mysterious S-Shaped Kink on the Sun
The spacecraft helped solve a piece of the puzzle of how the Sun heats up its atmosphere.
Via Gizmodo
·Excerpt
In 2022, a Sun-observing probe flew through an S-shaped stream of charged particles pouring out of the star. These mysterious kinks, known as a switchback, can help scientists better understand what fuels dangerous solar storms—but their origin has remained a mystery. Now, by fingerprinting the particles that make up this stream, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft was able to pinpoint where it came from.
In a new paper published in Nature Astronomy, a team of scientists identified the source of the…
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