Lebanon Today
Published on 10/28/2025 | Last updated: 15:48 (Mecca Time)
An international team of scientists, led by the Southwest Research Institute in the United States, has succeeded in directly observing so-called “pickup ions” in the solar wind. These ions are atoms of origin from the interstellar medium, which become active in the solar wind, allowing their detection and measurement of their distribution.
These pickup ions were observed using data from the pickup ion observation mission, launched in 2015 and comprising four spacecraft orbiting in a precise pyramidal formation around Earth to capture details of changes in the magnetic field and plasma at the boundary between the magnetosphere and the solar wind.
The observation revealed a surprising behavior of the pickup ions, as scientists found evidence confirming that pickup ions drift through the solar wind near Earth.
If this discovery is correct, it may force scientists to revise space weather models, which study the relationship between Earth and the Sun, and the latter’s impact on our atmosphere.
## Different Ions
Pickup ions originate in the heliosphere when neutral particles in it are ionized, either by solar ultraviolet radiation or by charge exchange with wind protons in the heliosphere.
After this ionization, these ions are attracted with the solar wind and rotate around the local magnetic field, forming a plasma cluster with distinct properties from ordinary solar wind plasma.
According to the study recently published in the “Journal of Physics Research,” these particles, previously considered secondary factors, now appear capable of generating waves that affect the heating and evolution of the solar wind, as they interact with the plasma, contributing to the heating of the solar wind and accelerating the thermal balance in it, which will directly affect space weather.
In a statement obtained by Al Jazeera Net, Dr. Michael Starkey of the Southwest Research Institute and leader of the research team says: “The results of our study indicate that these ions are indeed capable of generating waves in the solar wind near Earth, stimulating the need for further statistical studies of these processes.”
He adds: “Pickup ions may play a greater role in heating the solar wind near Earth and increasing its temperature than previously thought, which will have significant implications for solar wind models throughout the heliosphere.”
## What Happens Near Earth?
By modeling and analyzing the components of pickup ions, the researchers found that pickup ions in the solar wind have effects on Earth and the solar system.
According to the official statement issued by the Southwest Research Institute, the research team modeled the components of individual ions, and the researchers identified the groups that may be responsible for the observed wave activity.
By modeling each component separately by studying the properties of each component individually, they found that some of the waves observed in the solar wind are often composed of ions resulting from helium and crystalline hydrogen compounds.
Despite this progress, the team was unable to accurately determine the type of ions responsible due to the limitations of current devices, prompting them to call for the development of more sensitive tools and the expansion of the scope of mass spectral analysis so that different types of ions within the solar wind can be distinguished with great accuracy.
These improvements may help reveal how charged particles coming from the sun interact with Earth’s magnetic field and the surrounding heliosphere.
source: 961 today
