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Direct Observations of a Complex Coronal Web Driving Highly Structured Slow Solar Wind
- Source :
- Nature Astronomy. 7(2)
- Publication Year :
- 2022
- Publisher :
- United States: NASA Center for Aerospace Information (CASI), 2022.
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Abstract
- The solar wind is formed by continuous streams of charged particles that escape into the heliosphere from the Sun. Fast wind with speeds more than 500 km s-1 emerges from the interiors of coronal holes. Near the ecliptic plane, fast wind from low-latitude coronal holes is interspersed with a highly structured slow solar wind. The source regions and drivers of this slow wind are poorly understood. Here we report observations from an off-point campaign of the GOES Solar Ultraviolet Imager that reveal a spatially complex web of magnetized plasma structures, over a low-latitude coronal hole active region system, that persistently interact and reconnect in the middle corona. SOHO coronagraphic images show concurrent emergence of slow wind streams over these coronal web structures. With advanced global MHD coronal models, we demonstrate that the observed coronal web is a direct imprint of the magnetic separatrix web (S-web). By revealing a highly dynamic portion of S-web, our observations open a window into important middle coronal processes that appear to play key role in driving structured slow solar wind.
- Subjects :
- Solar Physics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 23973366
- Volume :
- 7
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- NASA Technical Reports
- Journal :
- Nature Astronomy
- Notes :
- 955518.02.05.01.10.02, , 80NSSC18K1129, , 80NSSC20K0192, , 80NSSC20K1285, , NOAA NA17OAR4320101, , EU Horizon 2020 695075
- Publication Type :
- Report
- Accession number :
- edsnas.20220014191
- Document Type :
- Report
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01834-5