Tag: magnetic reconnection
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What Powers Auroral Arcs? NASA Scientists Explain the Energetic Driver Behind the Sky’s Colored Arches
Understanding auroral arcs: a brief refresher When charged particles from the sun collide with Earth’s upper atmosphere, they light up the sky in a spectacle known as an aurora. While many observers may be familiar with the broad glow of the aurora borealis or australis, scientists describe a more specific form called auroral arcs. These…
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Magnetic Avalanches on the Sun Reveal the Hidden Engine Powering Solar Flares
Unveiling the Sun’s Hidden Engine Astronomers have long wondered what fuels the Sun’s most dramatic eruptions. A new study suggests that giant solar flares arise not from a single violent event but from a cascade of tiny magnetic disturbances, or what researchers are calling magnetic avalanches. This chain reaction releases energy in a torrent of…