Solar Wind



About the Image: The sun flings out solar wind particles in much the same manner as a garden sprinkler throws out water droplets. The artist's drawing of the solar wind flow was provided courtesy of NASA.

Basic Facts About the Solar Wind

  • The sun is flinging 1 million tons of matter out into space in all directions every second in the form of an electrified stream of charged particles. If you add all this up over the course of a day, its comparable to the mass of Utah's Great Salt Lake. And this happens every day, day after day, year after year. In ten billion years, the sun will lose 0.01% of its mass as a result of the plasma outflow.
  • This mass loss is called the solar wind. The solar wind is formed as the sun's topmost layer blows off into space carrying with it magnetic fields still attached to the sun. Theoretical description of the Solar Wind.
  • This rarified plasma moving at velocities of ~400 km/sec engulfs the planets, fills the solar system, and continues onwards, creating a huge bubble of solar plasma in interstellar space called the heliosphere.

 
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Send feedback to Linda Johnson, lejohnso@engin.umich.edu.
The source of this material is Windows to the Universe, at http://www.windows.ucar.edu/ at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). ©1995-1999, 2000 The Regents of the University of Michigan; ©2000-04 University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. All Rights Reserved. Site policies and disclaimer