NASA's Parker Solar Probe observed a slow solar wind flowing out from the small coronal hole — the long, thin black spot seen on the left side of the Sun in this image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (Source: NASA)
It’s been a conundrum to scientists where the solar wind flows in a smooth continuous slow or whether its generate in erratic spurts. And, the answer is neither.
Parker finds that solar winds have rough, irregular texture. The plasma within them doesn’t have a sense of direction either. Half the time it flies randomly out into space and the rest it falls back towards the Sun. In fact, these clumps of plasma might be the reason behind the ‘whip’ in the Sun’s magnetic field.
Even so, the new information shows scientists what solar wind looks like in its nascent stages for the very first time.