Alphonse Sterling (ST13) is co-author on a paper to appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, entitled: “Magnetic Reconnection as the Driver of the Solar Wind," which is led by Nour E. Raouafi of The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. This work discusses evidence that magnetic reconnection near the Sun’s surface results in features called “jetlets.” These jetlets occur frequently in the low solar atmosphere, and might be the source of the solar wind.

A preprint of the paper is available at: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2301.00903.pdf.

A NASA press release accompanying this paper appears at: http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Show-Article.php?articleID=183.

(a) Composite of SDO/AIA and GOES-R/SUVI 171 A images showing the small-scale activity at the base of the solar corona and its extension to higher altitudes. The maximum extent of the jetlets in the AIA field of view is limited by the instrument sensitivity. Estimates of their occurrence rate and size are also limited by the temporal and spatial resolution of the instrument. The SUVI image maps the structures observed at the coronal base into the solar wind. (b) AIA image (171 Å) showing the jetlet structures as elongated features above the solar polar limb. Examples of jetlet events are indicated by the arrows.