NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has captured unprecedented data of a powerful plasma explosion moving toward the sun’s surface, revealing protons with energy levels 1,000 times higher than expected.

This event, caused by “magnetic reconnection” — where the sun’s magnetic fields break and reconnect — accelerates charged particles and fuels the solar wind.

Understanding this process is crucial for predicting space weather, which can disrupt satellites, GPS, power grids, and even agriculture on Earth.

Parker, the first spacecraft to enter the sun’s corona, provides detailed measurements to improve space weather models, Live Science has reported.

These insights come amid an active solar cycle, with the probe continuing its close flybys and contributing to hundreds of scientific studies since its launch.

Written by B.C. Begley