Our Sun drives a constant outward flow of plasma, or ionized gas, called the solar wind, which envelops our solar system. Outside of Earth’s protective magnetosphere, the fastest solar wind rushes by at speeds of over 310 miles (500 kilometers) per second. But researchers haven’t been able to figure out how the wind gets enough energy to achieve that speed – until now.
Our team of helio physicists published a paper in August 2024 that points to a new source of energy propelling the solar wind.
Physicist Eugene Parker predicted the solar wind’s existence in 1958. The Mariner spacecraft, headed to Venus, would confirm its existence in 1962.
Since the 1940s, studies had shown that the Sun’s corona, or solar atmosphere, could heat up to very high temperatures – over 2 million degrees Fahrenheit (or more than 1 million degrees Celsius).
Parker’s work suggested that this extreme temperature could create ...
