NASA New Theory: NASA scientists have developed a theory that explains how explosions on the Sun occur and can aid in predicting geomagnetic storms and solar flares that can affect Earth.
Solar flares are caused by magnetic reconnection, an explosive process that can release enough energy to power the entire world for 20,000 years in just minutes. Scientists have been trying to figure out how this process works for the last half-century. And now, NASA New Theory news is circulating everywhere.
Solar Flares
Solar flares are brief explosions that rip through the atmosphere above sunspots, releasing massive amounts of energy, up to a million, billion, billion (1024) joules in minutes. This power is generated by a small blast the size of an Earth-sized sunspot.
For a short period, usually around 10 minutes, a flare is heated to tens of millions of kelvin. The explosion unleashes a torrent of radiation, ranging from X-rays to radio waves, into the solar system. It also launches high-energy electrons and protons into interplanetary space.
A solar flare can release enough energy to power the entire world for 20,000 years in just minutes. They are caused by a process known as magnetic reconnection, which scientists have been attempting to understand for the past 50 years.
A better understanding of magnetic reconnection could lead to new insights into nuclear fusion and better predictions of particle storms from the Sun that can affect Earth-orbiting technology.
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The reason Solar flares are so powerful
Since solar flares are extremely hot, they emit most of their energy at X-ray wavelengths, and a large flare can outshine the entire Sun in X-rays for a brief period. The energetic electrons that produce the impulsive, flaring X-ray emission also emit radio waves known as radio bursts to emphasize its brief, energetic, and explosive characteristics. At radio wavelengths, a solar flare can outshine the entire Sun.
There are more flares near the peak of the 11-year magnetic activity cycle, but this does not mean that sunspots cause solar flares. Instead, they are energized by the strong magnetism associated with sunspots. When these magnetic fields twist, they can suddenly and explosively release pent-up magnetic energy as a solar flare, with most of the energy released in the corona just above sunspots.
This is why we are fortunate because NASA New Theory discusses about solar flares.
The power appears to be released when magnetized coronal loops collide and connect, propelled by motions beneath them. An unstable state occurs when magnetic fields of opposite polarity are pushed together. When the areas are pressed together, some of them separate, releasing energy that powers the explosion.
Scientists at NASA new theory for solar explosions
The most explosive type of magnetic reconnection is fast reconnection. NASA New Theory Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) helps explain how and why it happens at the same rate every time.
Plasma is a high-energy, fluid-like material that is extremely sensitive to magnetic fields. This is known as magnetic reconnection, and it occurs when two magnetic fields collide.
NASA New Theory Magnetic reconnection occurs in plasmas throughout the universe, rapidly converting magnetic energy into heat and acceleration, from flares on the Sun to near-Earth space to black holes. While there are numerous types of magnetic reconnection, one of them is known as “fast reconnection,” which occurs at a predetermined rate.
The NASA New Theory study published in the journal Nature Communications Physics explains how fast reconnection occurs specifically in collisionless plasmas, a type of plasma in which individual particles do not collide.
The majority of plasma in space, including plasma in solar flares and space around Earth, is in this collisionless state, where reconnection occurs.
The team demonstrated the NASA New Theory by using the Hall effect, a typical magnetic phenomenon used in everyday technology such as vehicle wheel speed sensors and 3D printers, where sensors measure speed, proximity, positioning, or electrical currents.
Charged particles in a plasma, specifically ions, and electrons, stop moving as a group during fast magnetic reconnection. It occurs due to the Hall effect, which occurs when ions and electrons separate. This creates an unstable energy vacuum in which reconnection can occur.
The magnetic fields surrounding the energy vacuum exert pressure on it, causing the vacuum to implode and release a large amount of energy at a predetermined rate.