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The solar wind: acceleration mechanisms, turbulence and heating

The study of mass loss from the Sun due to the solar wind relies principally on observations from space, both "remote-sensing", using instruments for UV and EUV
images of the solar disk and white light and UV coronographs, as well as via "in situ" measurements of characteristic parameters (velocity, magnetic and electric field, density, temperature). The measurements are necessarily supported by the analysis of theoretical models and by the comparison with the results of high precision numerical simulations.
The Italian community is constantly involved in all the phases of the above mentioned study, both in the development of instruments on-board satellites and numerical codes, as well as data analysis and theoretical modeling. The magnetic turbulence in the solar wind has a decisive influence on the processes that transport energetic particles into interplanetary space. In turn, the transport influences the acceleration processes, like stochastic acceleration and so-called "diffusive shock acceleration".

FIRST IMAGE OF A REGION OF THE MILKY WAY FROM THE PEGASUS SURVEY

Jan 16, 2023

FIRST IMAGE OF A REGION OF THE MILKY WAY FROM THE PEGASUS SURVEY Led by INAF and Macquarie University, a portion of our Galaxy has been imaged in great detail as part of the PEGASUS survey - a radio astronomy project designed to discover more about the Milky Way

Studying the birth of exoplanets with chemistry

Sep 23, 2022

Studying the birth of exoplanets with chemistry A new study led by Elenia Pacetti, PhD student at La Sapienza University and INAF, jointly uses ultra-volatile, volatile, and refractory elements in the atmospheres of giant planets to develop a unified method to shed light on how and where giant planets form. The new work, published in The Astrophysical Journal, paves the road to the exoplanetary studies of the ESA mission Ariel