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What powers the Sun’s mysterious wind? A daring spacecraft has some answers

Analysis shows that mini jets of gas help to generate the solar wind, a discovery that also illuminates how our star’s activity damages satellites.
  1. Alexandra Witze
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Tiny bursts of superheated gas could fuel the stream of charged particles that rushes outwards from the Sun’s surface at hundreds of kilometres per second, a study1 shows. The origin of this powerful ‘solar wind’ has been a mystery for decades.

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Nature 620, 933 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02668-5

References

  1. Chitta, L. P. et al. Science 381, 867–872 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Raouafi, N. E. et al. Astrophys. J. 945, 28 (2023).

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