{"id":201988,"date":"2024-12-20T04:27:47","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T10:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/when-solar-probes-align-data-confirms-how-suns-magnetic-field-accelerates-solar-wind"},"modified":"2024-12-20T04:27:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T10:27:47","slug":"when-solar-probes-align-data-confirms-how-suns-magnetic-field-accelerates-solar-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/when-solar-probes-align-data-confirms-how-suns-magnetic-field-accelerates-solar-wind","title":{"rendered":"When solar probes align: Data confirms how sun\u2019s magnetic field accelerates solar wind"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/when-solar-probes-align-data-confirms-how-suns-magnetic-field-accelerates-solar-wind3.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When two probes orbiting the sun aligned with one another, researchers harnessed the opportunity to track the sun\u2019s magnetic field as it traveled into the solar system. They found that the sharply oscillating magnetic field smooths out to gentle waves while accelerating the surrounding solar wind, according to a University of Michigan-led study <a href=\"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.3847\/1538-4357\/ad94da\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> in The Astrophysical Journal.<\/p>\n<p>The sharp S-shaped bends of the magnetic fields streaming out of the sun, called <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2020-04-switchbacks-spikes-parker-solar-probe.html\">magnetic switchbacks<\/a>, have long been of interest to solar scientists. Switchbacks impact the <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/solar+wind\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">solar wind <\/a>\u2014the <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/charged+particles\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">charged particles<\/a>, or plasma, that stream from the sun and influence space weather in ways that can disrupt Earth\u2019s electrical grids, radio waves, radar and satellites.<\/p>\n<p>The new understanding of magnetic switchback changes over time will help improve solar wind forecasts to better predict space weather and its potential impacts on Earth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When two probes orbiting the sun aligned with one another, researchers harnessed the opportunity to track the sun\u2019s magnetic field as it traveled into the solar system. They found that the sharply oscillating magnetic field smooths out to gentle waves while accelerating the surrounding solar wind, according to a University of Michigan-led study published in [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,2028],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-particle-physics","category-satellites"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201988\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}