{"id":788175,"date":"2024-08-31T11:07:58","date_gmt":"2024-08-31T16:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=788175"},"modified":"2024-08-31T11:07:58","modified_gmt":"2024-08-31T16:07:58","slug":"data-from-space-probes-show-that-alfven-waves-drive-the-acceleration-and-heating-of-the-solar-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=788175","title":{"rendered":"Data from space probes show that Alfv\u00e9n waves drive the acceleration and heating of the solar wind"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\n \n NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and ESA’s Solar Orbiter missions measuring the same stream of plasma flowing away from the sun at different distances. Parker measured copious magnetic waves near the edge of the corona (the “Alfv\u00e9n surface”), while Solar Orbiter, located past the orbit of Venus, observed that the waves had disappeared and that their energy had been used to heat and accelerate the plasma. Credit: Yeimy Rivera and Samuel Badman. Solar image data comes from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Imagery was created with the open source python software SunPy ( \n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
By studying data from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and the ESA Solar Orbiter, an international team of astrophysicists has found that Alfv\u00e9n waves drive the acceleration and heating of the solar wind.<\/p>\n
In their study, published in the journal Science<\/i>, the group compared data from the two space probes to learn more about energy sources impacting the solar wind.<\/p>\n
Luca Sorriso-Valvo and Francesco Malara, with the CNR\u2013Institute for Plasma Science and Technology, in Sweden, and the University of Calabria, in Italy, respectively, have published a Perspective piece in the same journal issue outlining the work done by the group.<\/p>\n
Prior research has shown that as the solar wind moves from the sun’s corona, it cools, but also accelerates. Prior research has also shown that the cooling does not occur as quickly as it should due to free expansion\u2014a finding that suggests an additional heat source. Some researchers have suggested the heat source likely comes from Alfv\u00e9n waves\u2014a type of electromagnetic plasma wave. In this new effort, the researchers found evidence to back up this theory.<\/p>\n
To find out if Alfv\u00e9n waves are responsible for the acceleration and heat contribution to the solar wind, the research team compared data from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and the ESA Solar Orbiter during an opportune moment of alignment in their travels.<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n