|
Solar Wind
Solar wind is the plasma of charged particles ( protons, electrons, and heavier ionized atoms) coming out of the Sun in all directions at very high speeds -- an average of about 400 km/sec, almost a million mph! It is responsible for the anti-sunward tails of comets and the shape of the magnetic fields around the planets. Solar wind can also have a measurable effects on the flight paths of spacecraft.
This image of Comet Hale-Bopp is courtesy of Fred Espenak, NASA GSFC.
The solar wind varies routinely through the 27-day rotation of the Sun, as well as sporadically, in response to violent eruptions in the corona. These eruptions can result in geomagnetic storms on Earth. Read more about space weather...
The composition of the solar wind reflects the composition of the solar corona, modified by solar wind processes. The exact mechanism of solar wind formation is not known. Accurately measuring its composition aids in separating the effects of these processes from the original makeup of the corona.
Back to the Sun
July 31, 2009: Nonuniformity
of spectral indices in the inertial range -- ACE News
July 17, 2009: First 'flag'
on the Moon? -- ESA
July 5, 2009: Genesis
mission's hard impact -- APOD
July 5, 2009: Fast
neutral hydrogen detected coming from the Moon -- Science Daily
July 2, 2009: AGU
journal highlights -- #3 & 12 -- Eurekalert
June 18, 2009: NASA
IBEX spacecraft detects neutral hydrogen bouncing off Moon --
Universe Today
June 2, 2009: Magnetic
tornadoes could liberate Mercury's tenuous atmosphere -- NASA
May 29, 2009: Sun
stealing Earth's atmosphere -- National Geographic
May 25, 2009: The
color of Carina -- HEAPOW
April 25, 2009: Space
missions to visit the Sun -- UK Telegraph
April 22, 2009: Stars
can strip gas giants naked -- National Geographic
April 22, 2009: Solar
wind tans young asteroids -- ESO
April 10, 2009: A
one-sided aspect of Alfvenic fluctuations in the solar wind -- ACE
News
April 9, 2009: Scientists
pinpoint the 'edge of space' -- Eurekalert
March 27, 2009: Cluster
satellites investigate space turbulence -- Astronomy.com
March 9, 2009: A
swiftly tilting comet -- HEAPOW
February 21, 2009: The Swift view
of Comet Lulin -- APOD
February 7, 2009: Comet Lulin
tails -- APOD
February 2, 2009: Evacuation
route -- HEAPOW
January 28, 2009: NASA
Goddard to investigate the stormy Moon -- NASA GSFC
January 24, 2009: The Bubble
Nebula -- APOD
January 8, 2009: Hubble
finds stars that go 'ballistic' -- Science Daily
January 7, 2009: The Galactic
core in infrared -- APOD
December 22, 2008: What keeps the solar wind
hot? -- APS Physics
December 16, 2008: Sun
often "tears out a wall" in Earth's solar storm shield -- NASA
THEMIS
December 15, 2008: A
giant breach in Earth's magnetic field -- Science@NASA
December 15, 2008: SABER
reveals the upper atmosphere's "breathing" pattern, in rhythm with the
Sun -- NASA
December 15, 2008: Charge
and exchange -- HEAPOW
November 21, 2008: Solar
wind rips up Martian atmosphere -- Science@NASA
October 30, 2008: Hot
solar wind in cold outer space -- The Weather Channel
September 29, 2008: Hidden
boundaries of sunspots pump out plasma into interplanetary space
-- NASA
September 23, 2008: Ulysses
spacecraft data indicate Solar System shield lowering -- ESA
September 23, 2008: Solar
wind loses power, hits 50-year low -- Science@NASA
September 18, 2008: Weaker
solar wind from the polar coronal holes and the whole Sun --
Geophysical Research Letters
July 26, 2008: Central IC
1805 -- APOD
June 23, 2008: XMM-Newton
watches lazy pulsar being jazzed up by companion -- ESA
June 10, 2008: NASA
plans to visit the sun -- Science@NASA
May 22, 2008: Windblown NGC
3199 -- APOD
May 8, 2008: Joint
ESA/NASA team wins international award -- ESA
May 1, 2008: NASA
calls on APL to send probe to the sun -- JHU/APL
April 16, 2008: Electric
solar wind sail could power future space travel in solar system --
Science Daily
April 13, 2008: Curious cometary
knots in the Helix Nebula -- APOD
April 10, 2008: Moondust
in the wind -- Science@NASA
April 2, 2008: Hinode:
Source of the slow solar wind and superhot flares -- ESA
March 19, 2008: Cometary
x-ray emission: Using comets as natural solar wind probes -- ACE
News
March 15, 2008: Crashed
probe yields sun secrets -- BBC
March 13, 2008: The
solar system's first breath -- Nature
January 30, 2008: Mercury's
magnetosphere fends off the solar wind -- Eurekalert
January 30, 2008: NASA
astrophysicist wins Arctowski Medal -- NASA GSFC
January 14, 2008: Ulysses
spacecraft flies over Sun's north pole -- NASA JPL
December 12, 2007: Surprises
at the solar system's edge -- Astronomy.com
December 10, 2007: Voyager
2 probe leaves the neighborhood -- Nature
December 10, 2007: MIT
instrument finds surprises at solar system's edge -- MIT
December 10, 2007: A jet from the
Sun -- APOD
December 10, 2007: Sunburst
-- HEASARC Picture of the Week
December 7, 2007: Hinode
mission delves into solar mysteries -- AAAS
December 6, 2007: Spacecraft
reveals new insights about the origin of solar wind -- NASA
December 6, 2007: The
Sun is bristling with x-ray jets -- Science@NASA
November 5, 2007: Comet Holmes
grows a tail -- APOD
November 1, 2007: Analysis
of solar wind helps illuminate how our solar system evolved --
Science Daily
October 29, 2007: Washington
University scientists analyze solar wind samples from Genesis
mission -- Eurekalert
October 24, 2007: Chang'e-1
-- New mission to Moon lifts off -- Eurekalert
August 20, 2007: Pioneering
ANSA spacecraft mark thirty years of flight -- NASA JPL
August 13, 2007: Energy
cascade in the solar wind -- ACE News
August 9, 2007: Swarming
starlings help probe plasma, crowds, and stock market --
Eurekalert
June 11, 2007: Global
distribution of slow solar wind during Solar Cycle 23 -- ACE News
May 25, 2007: Astrophysicists find fractal image of Sun's 'storm season' imprinted on solar wind -- EurekAlert!
May 16, 2007: Helium may set minimum speed limit for solar wind -- NASA GSFC
May 15, 2007: Cluster makes a shocking discovery -- SpaceDaily
April 16, 2007: Prolonged reconnection at an extended and continuous X-line in the solar wind -- ACE News
March 29, 2007: Magnetic fields get reconnected in turbulent plasma too, Cluster reveals -- SpaceDaily
February 20, 2007: A cool solar mystery -- Science@NASA
February 20, 2007: Lockheed Martin scientists determine magnetic reconnection locations at Earth's magnetopause -- SpaceDaily
February 9, 2007: New Horizons observes solar wind interactions -- Spaceflight Now
January 17, 2007: THEMIS will judge what causes highly dynamic aurora -- NASA GSFC
Click on images above to
learn more about them
|
HOME
In the News
History
Ask Us
Great Links
Glossary
Site Map
Search NASA
|