NASA mission to the sun answers questions about solar wind that causes aurora borealis
CBSN
A NASA mission to touch the sun has revealed answers about the closest star's solar winds, which cause the aurora borealis and can affect Earth's communications systems. The Parker Solar Probe has captured information about the solar wind that flows from the sun's coronal holes toward's our planet, answering questions scientists have asked for six decades.
The probe flew through the sun's upper atmosphere in 2021, and in a study published in Nature this week, researchers from Berkeley say the information gathered will help predict so-called "solar storms," which create "beautiful auroras on Earth" but also "wreak havoc with satellites and the electrical grid."
Coronal holes in the sun usually form at the poles and the solar winds don't hit Earth. But every 11 years, these holes appear all over the sun's surface and send bursts of solar winds at Earth.
