Tiny gas jets generate solar wind

Minuscule bursts of superheated gas could form the origin of the solar wind — the stream of charged particles coming from the Sun’s surface. Pictures snapped by the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft show short-lived ‘picoflares’ that appear to expel material into space. The gas jets are probably powered by disturbances in the magnetic field of the million-degree solar plasma. They were observed inside a coronal hole, a temporary gap in the Sun’s magnetic field. A multitude of these small flares could add up to be a substantial source of solar wind.