An international team of astrophysicists analyzed data collected by the robotic space station
Magnetic reconnection occurs whenthe magnetic field changes its configuration to a more stable one: magnetic field lines from different magnetic domains come together and quickly rearrange. This is a fundamental mechanism for releasing energy in plasma and is believed to be the primary mechanism for large-scale solar eruptions.
Previous observations have documented this phenomenon intime of large-scale explosive events on the Sun: flares and coronal mass ejections. The Solar Orbiter probe, which was about halfway between Earth and the star last March, observed magnetic reconnection in the corona for the first time at ultra-high resolution: about 390 km across.
Tiny magnetic reconnections on the surface of the Sun. Video: EuropeanSpaceAgency
Unlike large-scale explosive events,tiny magnetic reconnection turned out to be a "softer" process, the scientists note. The temperature around the zero point, where the magnetic field strength drops to zero, was maintained at about 10,000,000 °C (about 5,500 °C). The whole process lasted for an hour, and throughout this time, the researchers observed the outflow of material in the form of discrete “drops”, which moved away from the zero point at a speed of about 80 km / s.
In addition to “soft” outflow, researchers alsorecorded one tiny explosion around the zero point, which lasted four minutes. The results of the study show that magnetic reconnection on scales that were previously too small to be observed is constantly occurring in both mild and explosive ways, the authors say.
This process can continuously transfer mass andenergy to the overlying corona, contributing to its heating and explaining the huge difference in temperature between the surface of the Sun and its corona. The researchers hope that the data obtained during the probe's future approaches to the Sun will help to better understand small magnetic reconnections and reveal the processes of heat and energy transfer to the solar corona.
Solar Orbiter has just begun its scientific mission,but already the first approaches to the star allowed astrophysicists to make several scientific discoveries. For example, last year, researchers uncovered the reason for the reversal of the star's magnetic field.
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On the cover: an image of the Sun in extreme ultraviolet light taken by the Solar Orbiter probe. Image: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI team