NASA's Parker Solar Probe Flew In And Out Of The Solar Corona And Found A Source Of High-Energy Particles That No Existing Model Had Predicted
(When NASA's Parker Solar Probe passed through the solar corona during perihelion encounters at the heliospheric current sheet, its instruments recorded energetic protons at energies far above what existing models of particle acceleration at that location could account for.)
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https://spacedaily.com/n-nasas-parker-solar-probe-flew-in-and-out-of-the-solar-corona-and-found-a-source-of-high-energy-particles-that-no-existing-model-had-predicted/ <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae3ca1 <-- shared paper
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https://www.space.com/high-energy-particles-source-space-weather <-- shared technical article
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https://youtu.be/Woo4yZby4BU?si=rzzND3qJkubGKyTo <-- shared space weather overview effects video, #AIslop notwithstanding 🙃 🫠 😉
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“… A team… at the Southwest Research Institute… and… the University of Maryland’s Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics has published an analysis of those measurements [link above]…, identifying magnetic reconnection at the heliospheric current sheet as the mechanism responsible. The proton energies detected were, in the study’s framing, approximately a thousand times greater than the available magnetic energy per particle that models of this process had predicted.
The finding matters for two reasons: it identifies a source of energetic particles close to the Sun that was not anticipated, and it raises questions about how far the existing understanding of reconnection-driven particle acceleration extends…
The Parker measurements suggest that picture needs revision. The magnetic island merging mechanism [the authors] identif[ied] can evidently produce proton populations at energies that challenge the boundary between what reconnection does and what shock acceleration does. Whether this source can explain a significant fraction of observed near-Earth energetic particle events, or whether it contributes mainly at energies and scales that remain confined close to the Sun, is a question the paper does not yet resolve…
Solar Orbiter, the European Space Agency mission operating in coordination with Parker, offers complementary measurements at somewhat greater distances. Comparing what the two spacecraft measure of the same particle populations as they propagate outward from the Sun will help establish which features originate close to the source and which are modified by the intervening solar wind. The energetic particle observations that puzzled researchers in the pre-Parker era now have a candidate mechanism. Whether that mechanism accounts for a large or small fraction of what actually reaches Earth remains the open question…”
#sun #solar #solarsystem #heliosphere #Parker #SolarOrbiter #spacecraft #research #monitoring #instrumentatin #spaceweather #solarflare #coronalmassejection #CME #NASA #ESA #magnetism #geomagnetism #proton #energy #particleacceleration #measurement #solarwind #risk #hazard #impacts #corona #perihelion #model #modeling
@nasa @esa

@astropic

The word perihelion refers to the exact point in an object's orbit where it is closest to the Sun.

Comets spend most of their lives frozen and dormant in the dark outer edges of the solar system. But as they approach perihelion, the Sun's intense thermal heat causes the subsurface ice inside the comet to violently vaporize (sublimation), blasting out massive jets of gas and dust into space.

#comets
#perihelion

Comet R3 PanSTARRS at Perihelion
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=comet-r3-panstarrs-at-perihelion
<p>We’re one comet down, and one to go for spring season 2026
#perihelion #panstarrs #spring #season
Comet R3 PanSTARRS at Perihelion

We’re one comet down, and one to go for spring season 2026. We recently wrote about prospects for sungrazer C/2026 A1 MAPS and comet C/2025 R3 Pan-STARRS in April 2026. While the bad news is, Comet A1...

C/2026 A1 (MAPS) reaches perihelion right now — 14:24 UTC.

Live at https://heliodata.ai

• Hourly science log
• 16 pre-registered predictions
• Real-time space weather + orbital data
• SMOS L-band + NOAA F10.7

Built for this exact moment by the Enneagrid Research Consortium.

Watch the pass with us.

#C2026A1 #Perihelion #SpaceWeather

C/2026 A1 (MAPS) reaches perihelion right now — 14:24 UTC.

Live at https://heliodata.ai

• Hourly science log
• 16 pre-registered predictions
• Real-time space weather + orbital data
• SMOS L-band + NOAA F10.7

Built for this exact moment by the Enneagrid Research Consortium.

Watch the pass with us.

#C2026A1 #Perihelion #SpaceWeather

“Just keep knitting, just keep knitting….”

#Perihelion #Knitting #FiberArts

This project has serious Just One More Row vibes

#Perihelion
#Knitting #FiberArts

Pre-perihelion evolution of the NiI/FeI abundance ratio in the coma of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS: From extreme to normal
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=pre-perihelion-evolution-of-the-niifei-abundance-ratio-in-the-coma-of-the-interstellar-comet-3iatlas-from-extreme-to-normal
Quick take: Vol
#perihelion #evolution #abundance #ratio
Pre-perihelion evolution of the NiI/FeI abundance ratio in the coma of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS: From extreme to normal

Vol. 70610. Planets, planetary systems, and small bodies Pre-perihelion evolution of the NiI/FeI abundance ratio in the coma of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS: From extreme to normal by Damien H...

Post-Perihelion Spectrum of 3I/ATLAS - Avi Loeb – Medium
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=post-perihelion-spectrum-of-3iatlas-avi-loeb-medium
Post-Perihelion Spectrum of 3I/ATLASAvi Loeb – Medium Hubble Images of 3I/ATLAS During Its Rare
#perihelion #spectrum #medium #hubble
Post-Perihelion Spectrum of 3I/ATLAS - Avi Loeb – Medium

Post-Perihelion Spectrum of 3I/ATLASAvi Loeb – Medium Hubble Images of 3I/ATLAS During Its Rare Alignment with the Sun-Earth Axis on January 22, 2026Avi Loeb – Medium Farewell, 3I/ATLAS. I've been obs...