Journal of Astrobiology & Outreach

A Brief Note on Solar Wind

Pire Grat^* Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States
^*Correspondence: Pire Grat, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States, Email:

Received: 04-Jan-2022, Manuscript No. JAO-2022-246; Editor assigned: 06-Jan-2022, Pre QC No. JAO-2022-246; Reviewed: 20-Jan-2022, QC No. JAO-2022-246; Revised: 24-Jan-2022, Manuscript No. JAO-2022-246; Published: 31-Jan-2022, DOI: 10.35248/2332-2519.22.10.246

About the Study

The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, known as the corona. This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons, and alpha particles with kinetic energy. The composition of the solar wind plasma conjointly includes a mix of materials found in the star plasma: trace amounts of significant ions and atomic nuclei. There are rarer traces of some other nuclei and isotopes. Superposed with the solar-wind plasma is the interplanetary solar wind. Solar radiation varies in density, temperature, and speed over time and over solar latitude and line of longitude. Its particles will escape the Sun’s gravity because of their high energy ensuing from the high temperature of the corona, which in turn may be a result of the coronal magnetic field.

At a distance of over a number of solar radii from the Sun, the solar wind reaches a speed of supersonic, which means it moves faster than the speed of the fast magnetosonic wave. Other related phenomena include the aurora (northern and southern lights), the plasma tails of comets that perpetually point away from the Sun, and geomagnetic storms that may change the direction of magnetic field lines.

The existence of particles flowing outward from the Sun to the planet was known as solar radiation. A sudden localized increase in brightness on the solar disc often occurs in conjunction with an episodic ejection of material and magnetic flux from the Sun’s atmosphere called a coronal mass ejection. Later spectroscopic work confirmed this extraordinary temperature to be the case. The properties of a gas at such a temperature determined that the corona being such an outstanding conductor of heat, it should extend way out into space, beyond the orbit of Earth. The tail of a comet always points away from the Sun, despite the direction in which the comet is traveling.

The Sun’s corona is powerfully attracted by solar gravity; it’s such a good conductor of heat that it is still very hot at large distances from the Sun. As solar gravity weakens with increasing distance from the Sun, the outer coronal atmosphere is able to escape supersonically into interstellar space. In 1990, the Ulysses probe was launched to study solar wind from high solar latitudes. All previous observations had been made at or near the solar System’s ecliptic plane.

Over the Sun’s lifespan, the interaction of its surface layers with the escaping solar wind has considerably decreased its surface rotation rate. The wind is considered responsible for comets’ tails, along with the Sun’s radiation. The solar wind contributes to fluctuations in celestial radio waves observed on the earth, through an effect known as interplanetary scintillation.

The solar wind is responsible for the overall form of Earth’s magnetic field. Fluctuations in its speed, density, direction, and entrained magnetic field strongly have an effect on Earth’s local area space. As an example, the levels of ionizing radiation and radio interference will vary by factors of hundreds to thousands; and also the form and location of the magnetopause and bow shock wave upstream of it will change by several Earth radii, exposing geosynchronous satellites to the direct solar wind. These phenomena are collectively called space weather.