For the first time in history, NASA'S Parker Solar probe has flown through a region of the sun in which explosive magnetic powers narrow and connect again, which directly confirms a theory that scientists have been discussed for 70 years.
This breakthrough explains how the sun unleashs immense energy outbreaks, the solar flares and storms, which are powerful enough to disturb satellites, power gates and communication here on Earth.
Confirmation of decades of sun theories
A team led by the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI) has enabled the first direct confirmation of long -standing theories about magnetic re -connection, a strong process that stored magnetic energy and promotes solar flar, coronal mass changes and other space weather events. The breakthrough was made possible by the Parker Solar probe (PSP) of NASA, the only spaceship that drives through the upper atmosphere of the sun.
A magnetic reconnection is made when magnetic field lines inside overdrive plasma Break apart and then connect again in a different arrangement. This sudden shift releases enormous energy. In the sun, the process drives eruptions that can curl over the solar system and impair technology on earth, including satellites, communication and power grids. The development of more precise models for the functioning of re -connection in the sun is the key to predicting these disruptive solar storms before reaching our planet.
From the magnetosphere of the earth to the sun
“Reconnection Operates at Different Spatial and Temporal Scales, in Space Plasma Ranging from the Sun to Earth's Magnetosphere to Laboratory Settings to Cosmic Scales,” Said Dr. Ritesh Patel, A Research Scientist in SWRI's Solar System Science and Exploration Division in Boulder, Colorado, and Lead Author of a New Paper Published in Natural astronomy. “Since the end of the nineties we have been able to identify the re-connection in the solar corona through imaging and spectroscopy. In-situ detection was possible in the magnetosphere of the earth with the start of missions such as the MMSA mission from NASA.
The unprecedented proximity of the PSP to the sun has opened the door to discover discoveries that were once considered impossible. During a narrow pass on September 6, 2022, the spaceship came across a massive outbreak and in such an event collected the first detailed images and measurements of the plasma and magnetic field activity. By combining these observations with data from the European space agencyThe Solar Orbiter, the SWRI-led team confirmed that PSP had flown for the first time in the atmosphere of the sun through a magnetic re-connection in the sun.
Long -term models finally validated
“We have been developing the theory of magnetic connection for almost 70 years, so we had a fundamental idea of how different parameters would behave,” said Patel. “The measurements and observations obtained from the encounter have validated numerical simulation models that have existed to a certain extent for decades.
The NASA MMS mission under the direction of SWRI provided the researchers an idea of how a re-connection in the almost earth environment occurs on a smaller scale. The 2022 PSP observations now offer researchers the missing piece that connects the earth scale with a re -connection of the solar scale. SWRI will work next to determine whether the solar regions of PSP, which were identified as an active re -connection, restoring re -connection mechanisms accompanied by turbulence or fluctuations and waves of the magnetic fields.
Locking of energy transmission secrets
“The ongoing work provides discoveries on different standards with which we can see how energy is transmitted and how particles are accelerated,” said Patel. “Understanding these processes in the sun can help to better predict solar activity and to improve our understanding of the almost earthy environment.”
Reference: “Direct in situ observations of eruption-associated magnetic reconnonection in the solar corona” by Ritesh Patel, Tatiana Niembermbro, Xiaoyan Xie, Daniel B. Seaton, Samuel T. Badman, SOUMYA ROY, YEIMY J. Rivera, Katharine K. Reeves, Guillermo Stenburg, Phillip Hess, Matthew J. West, Alex Feller, Johann Hirzberger, David Orozco Suárez, Sami K. Solanki, Hanna Strecker and Gheerardo Valori, August 13, 2025, Natural astronomy.
Two: 10.1038/S41550-025-02623-6
The Parker Solar Sonde is a NASA mission with which the sun study and uncover how its activity shapes the environment around the earth. It is part of life with a star program of the NASA that focuses on the sun earth system and its effects on daily life and society. The program is managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA in Maryland for the management of the agency's science mission in Washington. The spaceship itself was designed and built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics LaboratoryWhich also operates and manages the mission.
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