The Sun has been making major scientific headlines lately, and not due to the intense heatwave that swept Israel. Probes are constantly being launched to the moon, but what about the Sun? In 2017, NASA launched the Parker Probe to provide more information about our main star. The European Space Agency (ESA) launched their own Solar Orbiter in February 2020, and along with Parker, the missions are a work of collaboration aimed at improving our knowledge of the Sun. Perhaps most outstanding of all, is how the Start-Up Nation has engineered some of the tools on NASA’s probe.
The WISPR (Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe) camera, aboard Parker, contains two telescopes that will study the Sun from a much-closer vantage point, delivering images in sharper resolution than ever before. The telescopes incorporate TowerJazz’s 0.18 micrometer CMOS image sensor technology and are capable of capturing high definition photographs of the Sun’s atmosphere, solar winds, and solar emissions.
TowerJazz, or Tower Semiconductor Ltd., is the firm that has spearheaded the idea for this project, and has two stations in Israel, in Netanya and the northern town of Migdal Ha’emek, as well as one in the US, and one in Japan. Working alongside NASA and with the production facilities of SRI International in Menlo Park and the US Naval Research Laboratory in Newport Beach, California, the joint cooperation relied on Israeli ingenuity to design these high-motion sensors. Most impressive of all is their ability to capture such clear images, while withstanding the impossible heat from the Sun. “We are very pleased to see our teamwork take flight in this exciting endeavor by NASA,” said Mike Scott, the director of the company’s US Aerospace & Defense branch.
In January 2020, the results of the new flyby were released by NASA, showcasing some surprising discoveries. Not only did Parker provide the public with astonishing photos of the red-hot surface, it also documented evidence that the Sun, in fact, releases gases and other hazardous materials into space.
So far, the solar probe is the only artificial object that has flown the closest to the bright-hot star. The flyby also recorded the intense solar flares that take place when parts of the solar plasma burst on the hostile surface. In addition, Parker also measured strong solar winds and the emission of radiation from the Sun – some of which reaches Earth.
The Jerusalem Report spoke with Dr. Eric Christian, Deputy Principal Investigator for the Integrated Scientific Investigation of the Sun (IS0IS) of the Parker Solar Probe mission at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“There’s many puzzling aspects of what we’ve seen – some of which we don’t yet understand – and a major part of this project was being surprised by the amazing data we received,” he said.
The study discovered the existence of solar storms, and winds, much like on Earth. However, unlike our own winds – which are made up of nitrogen and oxygen, solar winds are mainly composed of hydrogen and helium, and rise to scorching temperatures.
In the most unique piece of research yet, the probe found that some magnetism on the Sun experiences a phenomenon known as “switchbacks,” where the magnetic force of the solar winds is flipped, resulting in a cackling sound (similar to lightning) that releases strong bursts of energy on the surface. This may explain how the Sun’s outer atmosphere is heated – often to astounding temperatures of millions of degrees.
In more technical terms, the switchbacks are magnetic fields that fold on themselves, explained Christian, however, in typical science, “you don’t expect a magnetic field to flip on itself like that.” Scientists observed several solar energy particles moving around as well. “Something is happening to them,” explained Christian, “as they travel out from the Sun, it kind of explains the reason why solar wind is traveling at an accelerated pace, and why for example, the corona is hotter than the surface of the Sun.”
The corona, (which has nothing to do with the coronavirus) Christian elaborated, is the outer section of the Sun – almost like an atmosphere – and spins as the Sun spins. It has a ring-like appearance and can only be seen properly during an eclipse. From our vantage point on Earth, it almost looks as if the corona is traveling away from the Sun.
Parker also detected sunspots, seen in photos as large black spots that “are regions of the most intense magnetic fields on the surface of the Sun,” explained Dr. Douglas Biesecker, a solar physicist who serves as the Co-chair of the Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel at the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado. “The reason they are dark, compared to their surroundings, is that intense magnetism reduces the flow of heat from the interior to the surface, resulting in the sunspots being a little cooler than their surroundings,” he clarified. Changes in these spots can help astronomers predict weather events in space that could affect weather patterns on Earth, he noted. Sunspots are also analyzed to chart the solar cycle, or when the Sun is most active.
Researchers say that the Sun – when viewed from so far away – seems relatively stable, however, Parker has proven the exact opposite. All this motion on the surface paints an entirely different picture.
Christian noted that the Sun’s activity may help scientists explain the evolution of all the stars in the universe. “Stars spin very fast when they’re created, but our Sun is middle-aged and very quiet,” he said. If scientists can locate stars similar to our Sun, with similar planetary systems, it may be a way to potentially find life on other planets.
With all this newfangled data, experts are exposing startling findings, and the search is ongoing. “It’s an exciting mission,” Christian remarked.
The idea for the project began around 1959, but NASA didn’t possess the technology to conduct such a mission. The heat shield – a sophisticated part of the craft that acts as insulation against the stifling heat of the Sun – was not developed yet. In 2003, plans began to take shape, but didn’t cement until 2008-2009. The project took about 10 years, and most was devoted to designing the insulating carbon sole that allows the probe to brace extreme temperatures. It’s hot enough to melt aluminum, but still protects the spacecraft.
In 2024, Parker is expected to reach within 4 million miles from the Sun’s surface. It will be 25 times closer than the Earth is now.
In order to do so, Parker will conduct a similar maneuver to what Beresheet, the first Israeli lunar mission, did when it entered and reentered Earth’s orbit, except it will do so around Venus. In that way, the craft will reach an area that will allow it to “leap” into the Sun’s orbit. It will fly by Venus seven times, and needs to be at a low energy capacity in order to do so.
In that sense, “it’s actually easier to get to Mars, than to get to the Sun,” Christian quipped. The Sun is right now at a solar minimum, or a period of relatively low activity, but in five years it will be much more active.
During the solar eclipse of 2017, Christian noted, scientists used the opportunity to further examine the corona. The Sun’s magnetic field affects charged particles in the corona, some of which form stunning plumes and loops, often seen in photographs. In the past, remnants of these particles were observed with specialized telescopes from Earth. Now however, with the WISPR device, scientists can capture much clearer images of the dim corona from in space. Typically, such matter can only be properly viewed during a solar eclipse, which occurs only once every 100 years. That’s a long time to wait!
The Sun has fascinated humans since time immemorial. Contrary to popular opinion, solar eclipses have been alluded to in ancient texts, and in Chinese, Native American, Incan, Indian, and Western African mythology. The subject has been noted in Judaism as well, and is mentioned in the Bible and in Talmudic sources. In Jewish mysticism, the solar eclipse is said to be a sign of impending doom (Sukkah 29a:8), or a call for the Jewish nation to repent for their sins. As we approach the Jewish holidays, perhaps this auspicious notion deserves more thought.■