#solar atmosphere

[wayti-blog]

"In a new study published in The Astrophysical Journal, a researcher from The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System, explores critical aspects of a phenomenon called kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs) to provide fresh insights into an age-old heliophysics mystery.

Syed Ayaz, a graduate research assistant at the UAH Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR), examined the potentially pivotal role of KAWs in heating the solar corona, moving science one step closer to solving the puzzle of why the corona is many times hotter than the surface of the sun itself.

"For decades, Alfvén waves have been proven to be the best candidates for transporting energy from one place to another," Ayaz says, noting the potential role of KAWs in driving coronal heat.

"This paper utilizes a novel approach to model energetic particles in space plasmas, as observed by satellites like Viking and Freja, to answer how the electromagnetic energy of the waves, interacting with particles, transforms into heat during the damping process as the waves move through space."

"The corona, or solar atmosphere, is an enigmatic region surrounding our home star that extends far beyond the visible disk of the sun, stretching some 8 million kilometers above the sun's surface. Yet, the corona is also characterized by extraordinarily high temperatures, a mystery that has captivated astrophysicists for nearly seventy years."

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[thepastisalreadywritten]

2 September 2022

Fresh off its success at the moon, India is now headed for the sun.

The nation launched its first-ever solar observatory today (Sept. 2), sending the Aditya-L1 probe skyward atop a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 2:20 a.m. EDT (0620 GMT; 11:50 a.m. local India time).

The PSLV deployed Aditya-L1 into low Earth orbit (LEO) as planned about 63 minutes after liftoff, sparking applause and high fives in mission control.

"Congratulations, India, and congratulations, ISRO [the Indian Space Research Organisation]," Jitendra Singh, India's Minister of State for Science and Technology, said shortly after deployment on ISRO's launch webcast.

"While the whole world watched this with bated breath, it is indeed a sunshine moment for India," Singh added.

The successful launch followed on the heels of another big milestone for India: On August 23, its Chandrayaan-3 mission became the first to land softly near the moon's south pole.

Chandrayaan-3's lander-rover duo are expected to conk out in a week or so, when the harsh lunar night falls at their touchdown site. But Aditya-L1's long journey has just begun.

A long road to a good sun-viewing spot

Aditya-L1 won't stay in LEO forever:

After a series of checkouts, it will use its onboard propulsion system to head toward Earth-sun Lagrange Point 1 (L1), a gravitationally stable spot about 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from our planet in the direction of the sun.

That destination explains the latter part of the mission's name. And the first part is simple enough: "Aditya" translates to "sun" in Sanskrit.

The 3,260-pound (1,480 kilograms) observatory will arrive at L1 about four months from now, if all goes according to plan.

But the long trek will be worth it, according to the ISRO.

"A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the sun without any occultation/eclipses," ISRO officials wrote in an Aditya-L1 mission description.

"This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time."

Indeed, another sun-studying spacecraft is already at L1 — the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a joint NASA-European Space Agency mission that launched in December 1995.

(Several other spacecraft, including NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, are at Earth-sun Lagrange Point 2, which is a million miles from Earth, in the direction away from the sun.)

Solar flares, the coronal heating mystery and more

Once it's settled in at L1, the solar probe will use four three science instruments to study the particles and magnetic fields in its immediate surroundings and four others to scrutinize the sun's surface (known as the photosphere) and its atmosphere.

This work will help scientists better understand solar activity, including the dynamics of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), ISRO officials say.

Flares are powerful flashes of high-energy radiation, and CMEs are huge eruptions of solar plasma.

Both types of outburst can affect us here on Earth. Intense CMEs that hit our planet, for example, trigger geomagnetic storms that can disrupt satellite navigation and power grids.

(As a side benefit, such storms also supercharge the gorgeous light shows known as auroras.)

Aditya-L1 will also tackle the "coronal heating problem," one of the biggest mysteries in heliophysics.

The corona — the sun's wispy outer atmosphere — is incredibly hot, reaching temperatures around 2 million degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 million degrees Celsius), according to NASA.

That's about 200 times hotter than the solar surface, which is "only" 10,000 degrees F (5,500 degrees C) or so.

It's still unclear what is responsible for this startling and counterintuitive discrepancy.

(Why would it be hotter away from the sun's core, where the energy-producing nuclear fusion reactions are occurring?)

Aditya-L1 has other science goals as well. For instance, the mission also aims to more fully flesh out the solar wind, the stream of charged particles flowing constantly from the sun, ISRO officials said.

Aditya-L1 will measure the composition of the solar wind and attempt to determine how it is accelerated.

And Aditya-L1 will do all this work on the cheap:

The mission's price tag is about 3.8 billion rupees, or $46 million US at current exchange rates.

That's in the same ballpark as Chandrayaan-3

India's first successful moon-landing mission costs about 6.15 billion rupees, or $74 million US.

For comparison, NASA's most recent big-ticket sun mission, the record-setting Parker Solar Probe, costs roughly $1.5 billion.

This disparity should not be viewed as an indictment of NASA, however; labor costs are much higher in the United States than in India, among other differences between the two nations' economies.

Aditya-L1 is a coronagraphy spacecraft to study the solar atmosphere, designed and developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and various other Indian research institutes.

[wnewsroom365]

সূর্যের শক্তি উৎপাদনের পেছনে কি রহস্য লুকিয়ে?

[gkonboard]

🌞 Prepare to be mesmerized as Aditya-L1, India's remarkable space mission, captures a breathtaking selfie and stunning images of our home planet Earth and the serene Moon! 🚀

ISRO's Aditya-L1 is on a mission like no other, headed for the Sun-Earth L1 point to study the Sun. But it's also treating us to a spectacular visual treat along the way.

[theofficialastronomy101]

Earth is such a beautiful planet

[unbfacts]

There is a giant hexagon, larger than Earth, at Saturn’s north pole. It’s a permanent jet stream with hurricane-like storms swirling inside.

[mindblowingscience]

A severe solar storm sparked by an intense flare from the sun could reach "extreme" levels as it bombards Earth, officials with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warned on Thursday (Oct. 10). Scientists with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Group (SWPC) said that a cloud of charged solar material, called a coronal mass ejection, slammed into Earth around midday, triggering a "severe" geomagnetic storm that could impact power grids and GPS and radio communications systems, as well as amplify aurora displays in regions that typically don't see them.

Continue Reading.

[quiltofstars]

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) hanging above the island of Great Farilhão // Luis Novo

[solardnp]

at literally any moment the sun could burp and in 7 minutes all life on earth would go up in a blazing ball of molten plasma - dan howell

[briery]

An astronaut took this photograph of the Aurora Australis in August 2017. At the time, the International Space Station was moving over the southern Indian Ocean towards the Great Australian Bight and Melbourne, Australia.

[darkenergyslivers]

nasa: A stone cold look at Saturn 🗿

The giant planet gives us a look into its moody disposition. The Cassini spacecraft captured this image on Jan. 30, 2007, from a distance of 700,000 miles (1.1 million kilometers). As Saturn’s atmosphere rages with thunderous and hurricane-like storms, its majestic rings spin a tale of ancient collisions and cataclysms. A joint endeavor of NASA, @europeanspaceagency, and @agenziaspazialeitaliana, Cassini was a sophisticated robotic spacecraft sent to study Saturn and its complex system of rings and moons over the course of a decade. Lessons we took from Cassini helped in the planning of our #EuropaClipper mission, which is on its way to Jupiter and expected to arrive in April 2030. Image description: A black-and-white image of Saturn taken from a lower angle. The rings of Saturn frame the upper right portion of the planet in various widths. Details of stripes and swirls from storms can be seen along the face of the planet. The left side of the planet is encompassed in a shadow. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute #NASA #Space #Saturn #Rings #Storms #Atmosphere #Moody #Planet #SolarSystem #BlackAndWhite

[wayti-blog]

"NOAA today shared the first images from the Compact Coronagraph (CCOR-1), a powerful solar telescope onboard the new GOES-19 satellite. CCOR-1, the world's first operational, space-based coronagraph, began observing the sun's corona, the faint outermost layer of the solar atmosphere, on September 19, 2024."

(Credit: NOAA Headquarters)

"CCOR-1 monitors the corona to forecast coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun that can produce space weather impacts on Earth."

Video

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[simpsforscience]

Sun's not all fire! 🌞 It's got a 4-layer atmosphere of scorching plasma. Corona's the hottest, millions of degrees! Read through to know more about these layers.

[serenpedac]

Beloved Seren!! I'm curious about if you have theories/predictions about MC's condition, like from an astronomy point of view? You mentioned that you view how the energy comes and goes kind of like solar flares! And I've been predicting that the powers being too much for the MC to survive would be sort of like they were turned into a dying star...but I know like 0.1 astronomy thing and only for fic purposes lol. So I'm curious if you have an opinion/perspective/prediction on what is happening to MC? (I'm not sure if my question even makes sense and zero pressure at all to answer this haha ❤️ I just figured you would have a cool perspective on it!!)

Lovely PD, thank you for the ask <3 This is a very good question and I have been thinking about Li-Sar and the MC's power, but my theories are somewhat fuzzy.

First, the theory that is related to my comment about solar flares. One of the things that caught my attention was how often the demo mentions electricity in regard to Li-Sar's powers, while also mentioning their power is "solar magic". This made me think about the Sun's magnetic field lines, because the Sun's electric currents and magnetic field are linked closely together. Because of turbulence of the Sun's plasma, those magnetic field lines get all tangled up. This can lead to them breaking and connecting with others, a process that releases a burst of energy (magnetic reconnection, see v cool video here, though the image below is clearer), accelerating particles, and causing bursts of electromagnetic radiation: solar flares.

The radiation sickness, together the mentions of Li-Sar---and now the MC---wields solar radiation, fit with the idea of solar flares. Only it seems Li-Sar can control this, while we see that the MC cannot. Looking at Li-Sar's comment on how a human body won't be able to handle the building magic, my theory would be that the "flares", like that burst of power in chapter 2, will get stronger and more frequent, eventually tearing the MC apart. It wouldn't be the radiation itself, as that doesn't seem to be an issue so far, but rather the energy involved in powering those bursts. Obviously, I assume a solution will be found.

My second theory fits with you say about a dying star, because it could be like a supernova event! A supernova type Ia is what comes to mind, with a white dwarf (the MC) and a companion star (Li-Sar). The MC siphoned mass (this power) from Li-Sar, causing them to cross a certain threshold, which then leads to the explosion/death.

And another theory that no one asked for, but Li-Sar reminds me of an O or B type star, as they are blueish-white, fitting with the blue and white colour scheme that keeps popping up in the demo. These stars have masses between ~3 - 200 times the mass of the sun, so like Ostin said, they have the power of "a dozen suns" or even more.

Such high mass stars can end in supernova explosion without the need for a companion star. Ignoring ethical considerations and the canon lore behind the Agency not killing supernaturals, this might be a reason the Agency didn't kill Li-Sar. Their death might cause so much destruction and make the planet uninhabitable. But that's just me being speculative.

[theofficialastronomy101]

Starship Flight 7 BROKE up during re-entry