Scientists have identified the source in the sun which produces solar energetic particles that threaten crewed spaceflight, near-Earth satellites and airplanes.
According to The Daily Mail, a team of US researchers analyzed the composition of particles that flew towards Earth in 2014 and found the same 'fingerprint' of plasma that is located low in the sun's chromosphere - its second most outer layer.
The solar energetic particles are released from the sun at high speed during storms in its atmosphere and for the first time scientists have identified their source.
The team behind the new study said this new information can be used to better predict when a major solar storm will hit and act faster to mitigate the risks.
"We need to understand and characterize the processes that form and heat the solar atmosphere and accelerate the solar wind into the heliosphere," reads the study published in the Science Advances journal.
"From a space weather perspective, we must elucidate the mechanisms that drive solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and solar energetic particles (SEPs)," the researchers explain.
In the study, researchers used measurements from NASA's Wind satellite, located between the sun and Earth, to analyze a series of solar energetic particle streams, each lasting at least a day, in January 2014.
These results were then compared to spectroscopy data from the Hinode spacecraft, which explores the magnetic fields of the sun to uncover what powers the solar atmosphere and sparks solar eruptions.
The 2014 high-energy particles came for a highly active region of the sun that frequently gives off solar flares and CMEs, and an extremely strong magnetic field.
"These energetic particles, once released, are then accelerated by eruptions that travel at a speed of a few thousand kilometers a second," said Stephanie Yardley from the UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory.
The area, dubbed 11944, was one of the largest active regions on the Sun at the time and was visible to observers on Earth as a sunspot—a dark spot on the surface of the sun.
