Double Trouble: Solar Orbiter Traces Superfast Electrons Back to Sun (www.esa.int)
from cm0002@lemmy.world to science@mander.xyz on 03 Sep 22:46
https://lemmy.world/post/35410167

The Sun is the most energetic particle accelerator in the Solar System. It whips up electrons to nearly the speed of light and flings them out into space, flooding the Solar System with so-called ‘Solar Energetic Electrons’ (SEEs).

Researchers have now used Solar Orbiter to pinpoint the source of these energetic electrons and trace what we see out in space back to what’s actually happening on the Sun. They find two kinds of SEE with clearly distinct stories: one connected to intense solar flares (explosions from smaller patches of the Sun’s surface), and one to larger eruptions of hot gas from the Sun’s atmosphere (known as ‘coronal mass ejections’, or CMEs).

#science