Astronomers at the University of California Los Angeles and George Mason University in the United States have discovered a source of potentially dangerous particles in the Sun, which are ejected at high speed during solar activity. These particles reach Earth and can disrupt satellites. This was announced in a press release on EurekAlert !. The article of experts was published in the journal Science Advances.
Researchers analyzed the composition of high-energy particles and found that they have properties characteristic of plasma located in the lower layers of the solar corona, above the chromosphere. Plasma, held back by magnetic fields, releases particles that are then accelerated to several thousand kilometers per second.
The data was obtained using the Wind space probe, located in orbit between the Earth and the Sun. The device recorded a series of particle streams in 2014, each of which lasted at least a day. The researchers also obtained spectra from the Hinode apparatus of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. It turned out that the particles originate from an area with an excess of silicon over sulfur, which is typical for the lower part of hot coronal loops – structures formed by plasma and magnetic fields.