Solar Wind

Solar Wind in the News
Solar Wind Activities

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.

Solar Wind Model -- University of Alaska

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

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

Solar wind news from 2006 and earlier

Grades 5 - 8: Dynamic Design: A Collection Process -- Genesis mission
Grades 9 - 12: ACE RTSW Data and Traditional Physics Problems -- NASA GSFC
Grades 9 - 12: Interpreting Realtime ACE Data From Space -- NASA GSFC
Grades 9-12: Cosmic Chemistry: Understanding Elements -- Genesis mission