Astrophysics (Index)About

solar wind

(charged particles emanating from the Sun)

The solar wind consists of charged particles (solar-wind particles) traveling out from the Sun. The particles are electrons and protons with a high kinetic energy from the high temperature of the Sun's corona, i.e., they consist of the high-speed tail of the corona's Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution that exceeds the Sun's escape velocity. The solar wind eventually hits the interstellar medium, carving out a bubble around the solar system called the heliosphere. Typical solar wind is 145 km/s though there is variation. The Sun's resulting mass loss is about 10-14 solar masses/year. Stars can discharge analogous stellar winds, the speeds and mass losses vary by type of star.


(Sun,solar system,particles,corona)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_wind
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/nmp/st5/SCIENCE/solarwind.html
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/solar-wind
https://science.nasa.gov/resource/the-solar-wind-across-our-solar-system/

Referenced by pages:
Aditya-L1
Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE)
AMPTE
atmospheric escape
aurora
beta (β)
circumstellar envelope (CSE)
comet
coronal hole
coronal mass ejection (CME)
DISCOVR
ejection
ESA Vigil
faint young Sun paradox
Forbush decrease
Genesis
heliopause
heliosheath
heliosphere
Hisaki
hydrodynamic equations
IMAGE­
IMAP
International Cometary Explorer (ICE)
interplanetary medium (IPM)
Interplanetary Scintillation Array (IPS Array)
Konus-Wind catalog
lunar swirl
magnetic field
magnetic switchback
magnetosphere
Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS)
mass loss
MAVEN
New Horizons (NF1)
Parker Solar Probe (PSP)
Parker wind
particle spectrometer
Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO)
pulsar timing array (PTA)
ram pressure
Rosetta
scintillometry
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)
solar energetic particle (SEP)
Solar Orbiter (SolO)
solar particle
solar particle event (SPE)
solar storm
space weather
spicule
stellar atmosphere
stellar wind
Sun surface features
suprathermal
SWFO-L1
TIMED
Ulysses
Van Allen belts
Wind
WSA-Enlil

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