Solar Orbiter Data Reveals Origin of Solar Wind (2024)

Data from the ESA's Solar Orbiter, launched in 2020, has provided a potential answer to the origin of the solar wind. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen suggest that tiny magnetic vortices, called picoflare jets, eject charged particles from the Sun's surface. These particles are then channeled into the magnetic field of coronal holes, dark regions in the solar atmosphere, from where the solar wind streams into space. The solar wind, traveling at over a million kilometers per hour, can cause auroras on Earth and, during intense solar storms, disrupt radio communications, power grids, and satellites.