Severe turbulence inside the Sun’s corona captured on video

Imagine a gusty wind, not just any wind, but a solar wind. It’s a constant flow of charged particles, primarily electrons and protons, that the Sun continuously spews into space. This wind, originating from our Sun’s corona, travels in every direction, extending way past the orbit of our very own Earth.

The solar wind shapes the environment of our entire solar system as it influences the atmospheres of all planets and contributes to the formation of things like comet tails.

It plays a crucial role in shaping the magnetic landscapes of planets and celestial bodies by carrying the Sun’s magnetic field through space.

Daniel Müller, the Solar Orbiter Project Scientist from ESA, is one of the experts on the job of studying this enigmatic solar wind. The solar wind, as you’ll soon find out, has a significant impact on us here on Earth.

Geomagnetic storms and pretty lights

This solar wind interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field creating geomagnetic storms that have the potential to impact satellite operations, communication systems, and even our power grids.

These same interactions also paint the skies near the polar regions with brilliant, colorful auroras which have left onlookers awestruck throughout history.

Enter high-tech space missions like NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and ESA’s Solar Orbiter, which collect detailed data on the speed, density, and composition of the intriguing solar wind.

Understanding the solar wind helps scientists predict these types of space weather events, alerting the public and dampening their effects on our technology-centric lifestyle. It also gives us a glimpse into the processes driving our Sun.

The corona acts as the Sun’s crown

The Sun’s corona, forming the outermost layer of the big ball of energy’s atmosphere, extends onto millions of kilometers into space.

Compared to the Sun’s surface, the photosphere with temperatures around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the corona’s temperatures exceed a million degrees.

This mystery of the drastic rise in temperature in this remote layer of the Sun piques the curiosity of our scientists.

The corona, made up typically of ionized gases known as plasma, is shaped continually by the Sun’s ever-changing magnetic fields.

These magnetic structures create complex patterns, giving birth to phenomena like solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

Tools of the trade

Studying the Sun’s corona is made possible through specialized instruments like coronagraphs, which block out the bright light of the Sun’s surface to reveal the faint corona.

Solar eclipses also offer natural opportunities to observe the corona directly.

Data from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, equipped with the Metis coronagraph, show that small disturbances within the corona grow as they move outward, leading to turbulent flow in space.

This turbulence, interestingly, begins in the corona, confirming long-held suspicions among scientists.

Turbulence and the Sun’s corona

Turbulence in the solar wind affects how it is heated and how it travels through the solar system. It also influences how it interacts with the magnetic fields of planets and moons.

Daniel Müller describes that this new analysis provides the first-ever evidence for the onset of fully developed turbulence in the Sun’s corona.

Solar Orbiter’s Metis coronagraph was able to detect it very close to the Sun, closer than any spacecraft could approach the Sun and make local measurements.

The Solar Orbiter mission, on October 12, 2022, captured detailed images of the corona from about 27 million miles away — less than a third of the distance between the Sun and Earth.

The Metis blocked direct sunlight and observed the fainter visible and ultraviolet light from the corona, providing clear images of its structure and dynamics.

The understanding of solar wind turbulence is crucial for predicting space weather, which can affect our satellites, communication systems, and power grids.

Turbulent solar wind can influence the strength and direction of space weather events, helping scientists better forecast their potential impacts.

Dynamic data captured on video

In the above video captured by Metis, the Sun appears in the center with a ring of data around it showing variations in the corona’s brightness.

These variations indicate a change in the density of charged particles, demonstrating the turbulent movement of solar wind particles.

The video, which loops three times, shows how these particles behave in a jumbled manner as they leave the Sun. It was created by the European Space Agency (ESA).

“Metis observation of the onset of fully developed turbulence in the solar corona” by Daniele Telloni et al. was published today in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

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