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The NASA/ESA SOHO spacecraft has observed many hot loops of gas in the Sun's atmosphere that sway from side to side, the European Space Agency has announced. The observations were reported today at a scientific meeting on Santorini, Greece and scientists believe the vibrations of the solar connection rings may reveal the details of how violent solar outbursts form.
Researchers think that, when they die down, the vibrations release enormous amounts of energy into the Sun's outer atmosphere and may reveal why sometimes outbursts distrupt the loops to produce a solar flare. Violent outbursts from the Sun generate high energy particles, mainly electrons and protons, that can cause solar storms on Earth, damage to spacecraft and even put the lives of astronauts at risk. Bursts of solar radiation can, however, also be useful to space probes since the X-rays they generate when they strike the surface of an object, such as an asteroid, can be used to analyse its composition. The NASA NEAR probe obtained its clearest X-ray spectrum of the surface of 433 Eros during one such flare. Scientists believe that eventually the information provided by SOHO and future missions such as the ESA Solar Orbiter will allow them to predict violent solar outbursts.
More info: European Space Agency
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