SOLAR WIND

Space Plasma

The Bow Shock

The Magnetosphere

The Magnetotail

Substorms

Data Analysis

Simulation

Science Topics

Missions

The Solar Wind

As the solar wind speeds out it carries with it the Sun's magnetic field, due to its high conductivity. The magnetic field, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), is one of the basic quantities measured by space science spacecraft, and forms the basis for most of our understanding of the coupling between the solar wind and the region dominated by the Earth's magnetic field (the magnetosphere).

The solar wind was predicted by the theorist Eugene Parker in 1958, and its existence was proved experimentally by the first craft of the space age in the early 1960s. The effects of the solar wind can be seen from the plasma tails of comets which always point directly away from the Sun, swept by the solar wind like a wind sock.

The solar corona is filled with different structures: polar coronal holes, magnetic loops, active regions, etc. This makes the solar wind highly dynamic at the orbit of the Earth. The changing IMF and solar wind speed and density can affect the magnetic field on the Earth by changing the coupling between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetic field. This area of research - the relationships between changes in the solar wind and geomagnetic activity - is sometimes known as "space weather."