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47563 |
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Date: August 06, 2023 at 11:20:10
From: pamela, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Sun blasts out highest-energy radiation ever recorded, raising questio |
URL: https://www.space.com/sun-blasts-highest-energy-radiation-ever-recorded-raising-questions-solar-physics |
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Sun blasts out highest-energy radiation ever recorded,
raising questions for solar physics
Story by Monisha Ravisetti •
9h
Sun blasts out highest-energy radiation ever recorded,
raising questions for solar physics
Story by Monisha Ravisetti •
9h
An image of the sun.
© NASA/SDO
In a record-breaking discovery, scientists detected our
very own sun emitting an extraordinary amount of gamma
rays — wavelengths of light known to carry the most
energy of any other wavelength in the electromagnetic
spectrum. This is quite a big deal as it marks the
highest-energy radiation to ever be documented coming
from our planet's host star.
Something like 1 trillion electron volts, to be exact.
"After looking at six years' worth of data, out popped
this excess of gamma rays," Meher Un Nisa, a
postdoctoral research associate at Michigan State
University and co-author of a new paper about the
findings released Wednesday (Aug. 3), said in a
statement. "When we first saw it, we were like, 'We
definitely messed this up. The sun cannot be this
bright at these energies.'"
Upon deliberation, however, the team realized that such
brightness definitely existed — and it was simply due
to the sheer amount of gamma rays the sun seemed to be
spitting out.
"The sun is more surprising than we knew," Nisa said.
Before you start worrying, no, these rays can't harm
us. But what they can do is have a pretty important
ripple effect for the future of solar physics. In fact,
they have already raised some important questions about
the sun, such as what role its magnetic field might
play in the newly observed gamma-ray phenomenon.
Related: Scientists may have just cracked the sun's
greatest mystery
It's all thanks to a unique lens on the cosmos called
the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory, or HAWC.
In short, this observatory, completed in the spring of
2015, is a facility specifically designed to observe
particles associated with very high-energy gamma rays
and cosmic rays, the latter of which are equally
energetic but also mysterious in that they often travel
across the universe without exhibiting a clear starting
point.
"In this particular energy regime, other ground-based
telescopes couldn't look at the sun because they only
work at night," Nisa said. "Ours operates 24/7."
HAWC basically uses a network of 300 large water tanks,
a press release on the new study explains. Each of
these tanks is filled with about 200 metric tons of
purified water, and they all sit nestled between two
dormant volcano peaks in Mexico more than 13,000 feet
(3,962 meters) above sea level. All of this purified
water is important because, as high-energy particles
from space strike the liquid, the collision results in
a phenomenon known as Cherenkov radiation (which you
may have heard of if you've watched the TV show
"Chernobyl").
Named after 1958 Physics Nobel Prize laureate Pavel
Cherenkov, Cherenkov radiation essentially refers to a
bluish glow that happens when electrically charged
particles move at a certain speed through a certain
medium, in this case water.
Tapping into this concept, HAWC's overall field of view
covers 15% of the sky, allowing it to survey a total
two-thirds every 24 hour period and figure out the
roots of various high-energy particles headed to Earth.
What's normal solar radiation like?
Even though scientists have observed the sun sending
out gamma ray emissions before, such observations are
connected to incredibly extreme solar events such as
super powerful solar flares. The recent gamma-ray
discovery doesn't seem to be associated with that kind
of scenario.
Within the sun, nuclear fusion processes are also
expected to produce these strong wavelengths, however,
gamma rays created that way don't exactly make it out
of the star — let alone far enough to be detected by
Earth-based instruments.
Instead, most of the time, what we see radiating out
from our host star are infrared wavelengths,
ultraviolet wavelengths and, of course, visible
wavelengths that we can see with the unaided eye.
For context, one of those visible wavelengths carries
an energy of about 1 electron volt. The gamma rays Nisa
and fellow researchers witnessed, by contrast, exuded
about 1 trillion electron volts. And, there were a lot
of them.
The first time scientists observed gamma rays with
energies of more than a billion electron volts,
according to the release, was in 2011 with NASA's Fermi
Gamma-ray Space Telescope. But Fermi had a limit. It
maxed out at finding gamma rays with about 200 billion
electron volts. So in 2015, the new study's research
team started collecting gamma ray data with HAWC as
this observatory didn't seem to have the same
restriction.
"They nudged us and said, 'We're not seeing a cutoff.
You might be able to see something," Nisa said.
Which brings us to the present — the first time we've
seen sun rays with energies extending into a trillion
electron volts. And, according to Nisa, that does not
appear to be the maximum.
"We thought we had this star figured out, but that's
not the case."
The paper was published Thursday (Aug. 3) in the
journal Physical Review Letters
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[47566] [47568] [47600] |
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47566 |
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Date: August 06, 2023 at 15:10:30
From: Jeff/Lake Almanor,CA, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Sun blasts out highest-energy radiation ever recorded, raising... |
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At only 4500 ft. If your unprotected without sunscreen for over 15 minutes,
you feel it. Over a half hour your burnt.
My kids came up last week, told them to lube up going out in the boat. My
Son did all but under his shirt, and of course took his shirt off. Burned fast
in only 20 mins, he said he has a reverse farmers tan/burn now.
Don't mess around with the sun nowadays. Non polluted skies, don't block
the damage to the skin, like the polluted day I grew up in SoCal, in the big
city.
Unfortunately, they all live down there still. " Can lead a horse to water, but
can't make them drink".
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Responses:
[47568] [47600] |
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47568 |
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Date: August 06, 2023 at 22:56:09
From: pamela, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Sun blasts out highest-energy radiation ever recorded, raising... |
URL: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/radio-communications |
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Proton count was rather high on the 5th, so yes, good
idea to be aware and prepared. Personally I don't go out
in the Sun much these days. Just go on the back porch
and sit in a little shed with some shade.
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Responses:
[47600] |
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47600 |
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Date: August 24, 2023 at 08:59:08
From: Tannhauser, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Sun blasts out highest-energy radiation ever recorded, raising... |
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Folks, the fresh GRBs (Gamma Ray Bursts) coming from the sun go through all clothing and sunscreen. And 10000 feet of granite. It's rather unprecendented.
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