Two solar probes help researchers understand what phenomenon drives the solar wind
Our sun drives a constant outgoing stream of plasma, or ionized gas, called the solar wind, which envelops our solar system. Outside Earth's protective magnetosphere, the fastest solar wind roars past at speeds of more than 310 miles (500 kilometers) per second. But researchers haven't figured out how the wind gets enough energy to reach that speed.
Our team of heliophysicists published a paper in August 2024 pointing to a new energy source powering the solar wind.
Discovery of the solar wind
Physicist Eugene Parker predicted the existence of the solar wind in 1958. The Mariner spacecraft, en route to ...