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Space weather may seem like a tale from a galaxy far, far away, but when solar storms hit us on Earth, we are directly affected. These storms are what give rise to the Aurora borealis, For example. They can even cause temporary interruptions in our communications systems and electrical grid. From these solar flareswe can learn a lot, and a recent statement from POT shares how, back in 2021, one in particular had a brilliant story to go with it. As space agencies continue to send astronauts into our planet’s orbit and begin planning trips even further afield, ways to monitor solar storms and their impacts will become increasingly critical. These storms have the potential to harm humans, satellites and spaceships; to launch from 2023 by the European Space Agency discussed how, for the first timeSuch energetic particles were observed simultaneously on the surfaces of the Earth, the Moon and Mars after a solar flare. This raised significant concerns.
“Space radiation can create a real danger to our exploration around the world. Solar system“Colin Wilson ExoMars TGO Project Scientist, shared in the ESA statement. “Measurements of high-level radiation events using robotic missions are critical to preparing for long-duration manned missions.”
In an era with a historic number of satellites and other instruments wandering into the unknown, NASA heliophysics missions use spacecraft to gain a deeper understanding of space phenomena and tell stories of what happens after solar events when particles are released into space. TO recent NASA article shares a perfect example of the efforts being made to study the impacts of solar storms caused by the light of all lights: Sun. This solar flare occurred on April 17, 2021, and while these storms are not uncommon, with this specific event, the storm was so widespread that six spacecraft in different locations and positions felt the blast.
Related: A powerful solar flare unleashes a colossal plume of plasma and causes radio blackouts across the South Pacific (video)
High speed protons and electronsalso known as solar energetic particles (SEP), were observed by spacecraft not only between the sun and Landbut as far away as between Earth and Mars!
According to NASA, this was the first time something like this happened: We now have a completely different perspective on solar storms using data from multiple spacecraft compared to a single one that can only provide a local view.
Let’s use a famous Marvel hero as an example: Thor creates a solar storm to take out a group of bad guys, generating a lot of SEP to send into space. He knows, however, that there are enemies everywhere. Therefore, he makes sure to create different balls of these SEPs that can go in all different directions, covering a much wider territory than a single beam can reach. With more “eyes” on a single event, we can better understand all the different types of dangers that can arise from a solar storm, which can sometimes pose a threat on a broader playing field.
“SEPs can damage our technology, such as satellites, and disrupt GPS“said Nina Dresing of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Turku in Finland. in a sentence. “In addition, humans in space or even on airplanes on polar routes can suffer harmful radiation during strong SEP events.”
Dresing and his team conducted further research into the event to learn where the SEPs came from, how the particles reached dangerous speeds, and when they made contact with each spacecraft. The conclusions were as follows (represented in the following diagram). The closest to the explosion (which received the hardest hit) was the BepiColombo spacecraft, a joint mission of the European Space Agency and JAXA. BepiColombo is on its way to Mercury. The second place most affected by particles was NASA. Parker solar probe, which is very close to the sun. This was followed by ESA’s Solar Orbiter. Parker and the solar orbiter They were on opposite sides of the flare when it occurred.
A little closer to home, NASA’s Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) STEREO-A spacecraft, NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and NASA’s Wind spacecraft were affected by the event. Finally, the furthest and final spacecraft to detect particles from the explosion were the Mars orbiters: NASA’s MAVEN and ESA’s Mars Express.
By determining their differences in location around the sun and looking at how many electrons and protons each spacecraft observed, Dresing and his team were able to paint a much clearer picture of what happened to the solar ejecta.
“Multiple sources are likely contributing to this event, which explains its wide distribution,” said team member Georgia de Nolfo, a heliophysics research scientist at NASA. Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in the statement. “Also, it seems that, for this event, the protons and electrons may have come from different sources. This is not the first time that people have conjectured that electrons and protons have had different sources for their acceleration, this measurement was unique in the sense that multiple These perspectives allowed scientists to better separate the different processes and confirm that electrons and protons can originate from different processes.”
As we know, this will not be the last time an event like this occurs, and the more we investigate, the better we will understand what is happening with space weather, and more cautiously we can explore the final frontier. Future studies arising from these results will cover broader ground of other phenomena; They will be directed by instruments that include the Geospatial Dynamics Constellation (GDC), Sunrise, PUNCHand HeliumSwarm.
The study was published last year in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.