https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03180-y
Astronomers know that the Sun’s magnetic field causes its energetic emissions, but unravelling the relationship between the two is notoriously complex. ASO-S will be important for understanding these connections because its instruments look across different wavelengths at once, says Eduard Kontar, an astrophysicist at the University of Glasgow, UK, and a member of the mission’s science committee. Studying different aspects of the Sun’s activity simultaneously allows researchers to tie eruptions to their underlying causes.
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The Sun produces high-energy bursts of radiation, known as solar flares, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), slower streams of particles produced in explosions. ASO-S’s main task will be to study the fundamental physics of these eruptions and their origins in energy released by the Sun’s contorting and realigning magnetic field. The process is one of “great scientific importance, with broad implications for understanding similar phenomena throughout the universe”, says Kontar.
Solar flares and CMEs can affect Earth when they reach and interact with the planet’s atmosphere. The resulting ‘space weather’ has the potential to interfere with navigation systems and disrupt power grids. ASO-S can help with forecasting space weather by providing data about the shape of magnetic fields on the Sun’s surface that are most likely to cause eruptions — knowledge that could allow researchers to predict when and where such eruptions will happen, says Gan.