National Academies Press: OpenBook

Understanding the Sun and Solar System Plasmas: Future Directions in Solar and Space Physics (2004)

Chapter: An Astrophysical Laboratory in Our Own Backyard

« Previous: The Sun's Galactic Environment: The Outer Limits and Beyond
Page 30
Suggested Citation:"An Astrophysical Laboratory in Our Own Backyard." National Research Council. 2004. Understanding the Sun and Solar System Plasmas: Future Directions in Solar and Space Physics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11188.
×

AN ASTROPHYSICAL LABORATORY IN OUR OWN BACKYARD

Plasmas exist everywhere in the universe—in the interiors of stars, in stellar winds, in the bizarre and highly energetic phenomena of stellar and galactic jets, and in the magnetospheres and ionospheres expected to surround extrasolar planets. It is only in our solar system, however, that the fundamental physical processes that occur in plasmas can be studied directly and in detail, through in situ measurements from spacecraft and sustained, high-resolution imaging from both space-based and ground-based observatories. The solar system thus serves as a “laboratory” for the investigation of processes common to all astrophysical plasmas.

At the center of this laboratory sits our Sun, a “cool” (6,000 K) main-sequence star with a hot (1,000,000 K) corona. The detailed knowledge that scientists obtain from helioseismic studies of the Sun’s interior, high-resolution imaging of the solar surface and corona, and in situ measurements of the solar wind and the IMF is being applied to the study of other magnetically active stars, with their hot x-ray-emitting

Magnetic reconnection may be responsible for accelerating cosmic rays in the lobes of giant radio galaxies such as NVSS 2146+82, a hypothesis supported by theoretical studies of reconnection in solar system plasmas.

Page 31
Suggested Citation:"An Astrophysical Laboratory in Our Own Backyard." National Research Council. 2004. Understanding the Sun and Solar System Plasmas: Future Directions in Solar and Space Physics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11188.
×

This computer simulation shows the intense currents generated by electrons where oppositely directed magnetic fields reconnect or annihilate. Magnetospheric multiscale will provide observational tests of our models and theories of reconnection.

coronas, stellar winds, and enveloping “asterospheres.” Solar Probe (originally known as Starprobe) is thus in a very real sense an astrophysics as well as a solar physics mission. By uncovering the mechanisms by which the Sun’s corona is heated and the solar wind is accelerated, Solar Probe will yield insights into coronal heating and stellar wind acceleration at other low-mass main-sequence stars in our galaxy.

Earth’s magnetosphere affords a unique laboratory for the investigation of magnetic reconnection, a process that has been invoked to explain a number of astrophysical phenomena, from solar flares and CMEs, to accretion disk flares, to the acceleration of electrons at velocities close to the speed of light in the lobes of giant radio galaxies. The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission is specifically designed to probe reconnection sites in the magnetosphere in order to unravel the poorly understood microphysics involved in the rapid conversion of magnetic energy to particle kinetic energy. The improved understanding of this fundamental plasma process which the MMS mission is expected to yield will be of invaluable benefit to scientists seeking to understand the role of reconnection in other plasma environments, both within the solar system and in remote astrophysical settings.

FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES IN ASTROPHYSICAL PLASMAS

The study of solar system plasmas has made substantial contributions to our understanding of such universal plasma processes as magnetic reconnection, magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, energetic particle acceleration, and the formation of collisionless shocks. With the appropriate scaling, lessons learned in our solar system can be applied to distant astrophysical plasmas that can only be studied remotely.

Page 30
Suggested Citation:"An Astrophysical Laboratory in Our Own Backyard." National Research Council. 2004. Understanding the Sun and Solar System Plasmas: Future Directions in Solar and Space Physics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11188.
×
Page 30
Page 31
Suggested Citation:"An Astrophysical Laboratory in Our Own Backyard." National Research Council. 2004. Understanding the Sun and Solar System Plasmas: Future Directions in Solar and Space Physics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11188.
×
Page 31
Next: Theory, Computer Modeling, Data Exploration, and Data Mining »
Understanding the Sun and Solar System Plasmas: Future Directions in Solar and Space Physics Get This Book
×
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF
  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!