The ESA (European Space Agency) spacecraft has encountered a peculiar phenomenon known as the reverse solar wind.
According to Sci-News, the solar wind is a continuous stream of charged particles emanating from the outer atmosphere of the sun, also referred to as the corona, into interplanetary space.
NASA graphic showing the phenomenon occurring when two solar wind streams approach and begin to cause chaotic magnetic field lines – (Image: ESA).
However, the ESA spacecraft has just experienced strange “backward” solar winds, creating a sudden and temporary magnetic field reversal. This phenomenon has been previously recorded by NASA spacecraft in interplanetary space but has never been identified around our parent star.
According to Dr. Gary Zank, Director of the Space Plasma Center, it is a kink propagating through the magnetic field, transforming these energy flows into something resembling an S-shape, chaotic and unusual.
The phenomenon was recorded by the Metis coronagraph onboard ESA’s Solar Orbiter.
Researchers suggest the most plausible model is due to the “collision” of the solar magnetic field lines. They inadvertently approach each other and then push apart, causing one flow to be redirected back toward the parent star.
This once again highlights the complexity of the solar magnetic field, the source of many chaotic and violent phenomena that frequently impact the planets around it, while also providing additional data for the scientific community to further understand our still-mysterious parent star.
The study has just been published in the scientific journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
