Tuesday, June 8, 2021

The "Rosetta Stone" -- Of Solar Flares? Very Well Could Be...


As the masthead suggests -- there is new learning, about our host star, as of last night.

Do read it all -- but here is a bit, from the smart humans at NASA's Goddard Space Center:

. . .In a dramatic, multi-staged eruption, the Sun has revealed new clues that could help scientists solve the long-standing mystery of what causes the Sun’s powerful and unpredictable eruptions. Uncovering this fundamental physics could help scientists better predict the eruptions that cause dangerous space weather conditions at Earth.

This explosion contained components of three different types of solar eruptions that usually occur separately – making it the first time such an event has been reported. Having all three eruption types together in one event provides scientists with something of a solar Rosetta Stone, allowing them to translate what they know about each type of solar eruption to understand other types and uncover an underlying mechanism that could explain all types of solar eruptions. . . .

Understanding the mechanism behind these events, especially CMEs, is of critical importance to predicting when a large eruption might cause disruptions at Earth. CMEs in particular release large clouds of high-energy charged particles and magnetic fields that stream out across the solar system and can result in the space weather – a storm of high-energy particles and activity that can be dangerous to astronauts and technology in space and, in extreme cases, utility grids on Earth.

By modeling the new Rosetta eruption and others since discovered like it, the scientists hope they can figure out what root mechanism causes solar eruptions and determines their characteristics. Finding a trigger could ultimately allow scientists to predict when a large eruption could threaten Earth and Mars several hours in advance – providing enough time for astronauts and spacecraft operators to take precautionary measures.

The new study was presented on June 7, 2021. . . .




Onward -- [with more background here] into the undiscovered country -- ever grinning; be excellent to one another. . . .

नमस्ते

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