NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has recently made a groundbreaking discovery during its journey through one of the most powerful coronal mass ejections (CMEs) ever recorded. The probe’s observation of the CME has provided valuable data for the scientific community and has the potential to improve space weather predictions.
The probe’s observation is helping to validate a 20-year-old theory about the interaction between CMEs and interplanetary dust. A 2003 paper proposed that CMEs could carry interplanetary dust outward, but this phenomenon had never been observed until now. Parker Solar Probe observed the CME acting like a vacuum cleaner, clearing interplanetary dust out of its path.
Interplanetary dust is composed of tiny particles from asteroids, comets, and planets and is present throughout the solar system. The CME displaced the dust to a distance of about 6 million miles from the sun. However, the dust was quickly replenished by interplanetary dust floating through the solar system.
In-situ observations from Parker Solar Probe were crucial for this discovery. Characterizing dust dynamics in the wake of CMEs is challenging from a distance. The observations also shed light on other related phenomena in the corona, such as coronal dimming caused by low-density areas that often appear after CMEs erupt.
Scientists were able to observe the interaction between the CME and dust through decreased brightness in images from Parker’s Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) camera. The team had to compute the average background brightness of WISPR images to isolate the variations caused by dust depletion. The researchers noted that dust depletion may only occur with the most powerful CMEs.
Understanding the physics behind the interaction between CMEs and interplanetary dust is crucial for improving space weather prediction. As Parker Solar Probe continues its mission, scientists hope to observe more of these rare phenomena as the sun’s activity increases during the approaching solar maximum.
The Parker Solar Probe has already completed its sixth Venus flyby and is getting closer to the sun for its next five close approaches. With each new discovery, scientists are gaining a better understanding of our solar system and its complex dynamics. Stay tuned for more updates from KP INSIDER as we continue to explore the latest discoveries made by the Parker Solar Probe.
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