Posted on 09/05/2022 7:01:19 PM PDT by BenLurkin
On 30 Aug, a large coronal mass ejection shot from the Sun in the direction of Venus. Not long later, the storm arrived at the second planet from the Sun. As the data continues to come in from Solar Orbiter, this strike reveals why ‘in situ’ monitoring of space weather and its effects on the bodies, and spacecraft, of the Solar System are so important.
Fortunately, there were no negative effects on the spacecraft as the ESA-NASA solar observatory is designed to withstand and in fact measure violent outbursts from our star – although Venus doesn’t always get off so lightly. Coronal mass ejections have a tendency of eroding Venus’ atmosphere, stripping off gasses as they whoosh by.
Solar Orbiter is a quarter of the way through its decade-long mission to observe the Sun up close and get a look at its mysterious poles. Its orbit was chosen to be in close resonance with Venus, meaning it returns to the planet’s vicinity every few orbits to use its gravity to alter or tilt its orbit.
This third flyby of Venus took place on Sunday at 01:26 UTC, when Solar Orbiter passed 12 500 km from the planet’s centre, which is very roughly 6 000 km from its gassy ‘surface’. In other words, it passed a distance half the width of Earth.
Its distance from Venus, angle of approach and velocity were meticulously planned to get the exact desired effect from the planet’s large gravitational pull – getting it closer to the Sun than ever before.
“The close approach went exactly to plan, thanks to a great deal of planning from our colleagues in Flight Dynamics and the diligent care of the Flight Control Team”, explains Jose-Luis Pellon-Bailon, Solar Orbiter Operations Manager.
“By trading ‘orbital energy’ with Venus, Solar Orbiter has used the planet’s gravity to change its orbit without the need for masses of expensive fuel. When it returns to the Sun, the spacecraft’s closest approach will be about 4.5 million km closer than before.”
Data beamed home since Solar Orbiter encountered the solar storm shows how its local environment changed as the large CME swept by. While some instruments had to be turned off during its close approach to Venus, in order to protect them from stray sunlight reflected off of the planet’s surface, Solar Orbiter’s ‘in situ’ instruments remained on, recording among other things an increase in solar energetic particles.
Particles, mostly protons and electrons, but also some ionised atoms like Helium, are emitted by the Sun all the time. When particularly large flares and ejections of plasma are shot from the Sun, these particles are picked up and carried with them, accelerated to near relativistic speeds. It is these particles that pose a radiation risk to astronauts and spacecraft.
Improving our understanding of CMEs and tracking their progress as they breeze through the Solar System is a big part of Solar Orbiter’s mission. By observing CMEs, the solar wind and the Sun’s magnetic field, the spacecraft’s ten science instruments are providing new insight into how the 11-year cycle of solar activity works. Ultimately, these findings will help us better predict periods of stormy space weather and protect planet Earth from the Sun’s violent outbursts.
This recent CME illustrates a difficulty in space weather observations. As seen in this footage from SOHO, a ‘full halo’ is visible when a CME is either coming straight at Earth, or in this case heading directly away, from the ‘far side’ of the Sun.
Determining if coronal mass ejections are coming towards Earth or away is tricky when viewed from Earth, because in both cases it appears to be expanding. One of the many benefits of the coming Vigil mission is that by combining the images taken from Earth direction and Vigil’s position at the ‘side’ of the Sun, the fifth Lagrange point, distinguishing between an oncoming or departing storm will be easy and reliable.
I have one in the morning if you lose a letter.
>Bada-Bing'!<
I'm here all week!
SOHO captures some cool stuff.
The gif of the sun blasting out plasma was from a few years ago.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/five-weird-things-that-happen-in-outer-space/
My son actually made that gif when he was employed on the SOHO mission.
bttt
Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Truth be told, it doesn’t seem like it made a difference one way or another.
>> I have one in the morning if you lose a letter.
surely not a vowel movement
> Ultimately, these findings will help us better predict periods of stormy space weather and protect planet Earth from the Sun’s violent outbursts.
Say what? How in Heaven's Name will puny humans use spacecraft data to "protect planet Earth from the Sun..."?
What stupendous hubris!
Maybe what they meant was "...these findings will help us better predict periods of stormy space weather and give us a little advance warning so we can stay indoors with tinfoil hats on, or in extreme cases, kiss our a$$ goodbye."
I know, I know, they talk about shutting down the power grid to keep it from going all 'splody from a Carrington-level event. Sure. And all the cars that suddenly stop and won't start. And all the cellphones that sizzle and display a frowny-face.
Another Carrington event will stop civilization as we know it for weeks, maybe months. And they think spacecraft data will protect planet Earth from the Sun. LOL
Excellent! Your son is to be commended; you should be proud!
I had the great good fortune to be employed in aerospace work in the 1980's, designing attitude control system components for NASA and others, including some devices that are part of the Hubble Space Telescope and other lesser-known birds. It is a source of great satisfaction that I contributed to our knowledge of God's Creation.
Please convey my sincere thanks for your son's work. I have shown that GIF to many others, while explaining CMEs. It's terrific.
SORRY, BUT I HAVE NO, NO, NO INTEREST IN OUTER SPACE.
I’m sure there those who disagree with me.
There is enough down here to keep me occupied.
Jeffrey Toobin sure is strong!
Hey, you wanna’ partner up? We’ll be the new Martin and Lewis.
well that depends, traveling overseas to Venice or staying incontinent?
Stuff that I installed is still running the control center at Goddard. Cool huh?
That’s cool.
I just passed your gratitude to him.
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