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NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has solved a 70-year-old solar mystery by directly confirming magnetic reconnection—the hidden force driving solar flares and coronal mass ejections. This breakthrough transforms space weather research and Earth protection.

For more than seven decades, scientists have been searching for the mechanism behind the Sun’s most dramatic events—solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These violent eruptions release immense amounts of energy and can have direct effects on Earth.

The mystery has now been solved. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has flown directly into the Sun’s outer atmosphere and captured groundbreaking observations that confirm the long-debated theory.

The spacecraft recorded evidence of magnetic reconnection—a process where tangled magnetic field lines in plasma break apart and reconnect, unleashing bursts of stored energy.

These solar eruptions produce space weather that can interfere with satellites, GPS, communication systems, and even large power grids on Earth. Understanding them is essential for protecting modern technology.

For nearly 70 years, magnetic reconnection had only been observed indirectly or through simulations. The Parker Solar Probe has now confirmed this process directly, turning theory into measurable reality.

During a close approach to the Sun on September 6, 2022, the probe detected a powerful eruption. Instruments recorded plasma and magnetic field activity with unprecedented precision, while complementary data came from ESA’s Solar Orbiter.

These results provide the missing link between small-scale magnetic reconnection events near Earth and the much larger-scale explosions on the Sun, bridging two ends of solar research.

Researchers are now working to find out whether turbulence, magnetic fluctuations, or wave activity also contribute to these solar eruptions. This could lead to more accurate space weather forecasting.

By finally confirming how the Sun’s explosive energy is released, scientists can refine models, strengthen predictions, and better prepare Earth for disruptive solar storms in the future.

This research was led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) using data from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe with support from the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter. The findings were published in Nature Astronomy.