Solar Orbiter's Discovery: Tiny Jets Unveil the Power Behind Solar Winds

The Solar Orbiter spacecraft has discovered a multitude of tiny jets of material escaping from the sun's outer atmosphere, which could be the source of the solar wind. Each jet lasts between 20 and 100 seconds and expels plasma at around 100 km/s. These findings challenge the assumption that the solar wind is produced only in a steady continuous flow and suggest that it may originate as a highly intermittent outflow. The energy associated with each individual jet is small, but their ubiquity implies that they contribute significantly to the solar wind. Further observations from different perspectives and latitudes are expected to provide more insights into this fundamental astrophysical process.