A Polish-designed space instrument has unexpectedly recorded the effects of one of the strongest solar flares in recent history, offering new opportunities to study extreme space weather and its impact on the heliosphere.
On 18 January, the Sun unleashed an intense X-class solar flare – one of the most powerful recorded – followed by a significant coronal mass ejection (CME) that sent high-energy clouds of particles toward Earth. While many satellites switched to safe mode due to the storm, a Polish instrument aboard NASA’s IMAP mission continued operating and captured unique data from the event.
Professor Maciej Bzowski of the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences (CBK PAN), who heads the Solar System Physics and Astrophysics Division, explained that the solar eruption produced particle levels far above typical background levels. The instrument – GLOWS (GLObal solar Wind Structure) – detected high counts of energetic particles such as electrons and protons in space surrounding Earth, even though it was originally designed for ultraviolet observations of the solar wind.
Developed and built in Poland, GLOWS is one of ten scientific instruments on board the IMAP spacecraft, which was launched to study the heliosphere – the region dominated by the Sun’s influence. The device measures far-ultraviolet light (Lyman-alpha) to reveal the global structure of the solar wind, but its performance during the recent flare demonstrates unexpected sensitivity to extreme solar conditions.
“We didn’t expect to see this,” said Prof. Bzowski. “Despite not being designed for such observations, GLOWS recorded intense particle signals that could help us better understand both the flare’s effects and our instrument’s response to high-energy space weather.”
This real-world performance underscores the value of Polish contributions to international space missions and highlights how instruments like GLOWS can deliver scientific insights beyond their initial mission goals.
The original content was published on the naukawpolsce.pl website: https://naukawpolsce.pl/aktualnosci/news%2C111366%2Cekspert-polski-instrument-zarejestrowal-efekty-jednego-z-najsilniejszych
