Solar wind samples suggest new physics of massive solar ejections

[Michael]

https://phys.org/news/2020-02-solar-samples-physics-massive-ejections.html

The new measurements of hydrogen showed that helium and neon were both enriched in coronal mass ejections, providing clues to the underlying physics in the Sun that causes the coronal mass ejections.

In the very energetic event, "the ejected material appears to be enriched almost systematically in atoms that require the most energy to ionize," said Ryan Ogliore, co-author and assistant professor of physics at Washington University in St. Louis. "That tells us a lot about the physics involved in the first stages of the explosion on the Sun."

All the "clues" point to electrical discharges being the actual "cause" of the CME, as well as being the underlying cause of the ionization process.