NASA SOHO – the Source of the High-Speed Solar Wind
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The Source Of The High-Speed Solar Wind Like water gushing through cracks in a dam, “fountains” of electrified gas, called the solar wind, has been observed by scientists flowing around magnetic regions on the Sun to begin their 3 million kilometres per hour rush into space. Scientists have identified regions on the Sun where the high speed solar wind – a stream of electrified gas affecting Earth’s space environment – originates. Using ESA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft, American and European scientists, have observed solar wind flows coming from the edges of honeycomb-shaped patterns of magnetic fields at the surface of the Sun. These observations are presented in the 5 February issue of Science magazine. The research will lead to better understanding of the high-speed solar wind, a stream of electrified gas that affects the Earth’s space environment. The “zoomed-in” or “close-up” region in the image above shows a Doppler velocity map of million degree gas at the base of the corona (solar atmosphere), where the solar wind originates. Blue represents blue shifts or outflows and red represents red shfts or downflows. The atmospheric motion toward us, away from the solar surface, is seen as a blue shift, and is the beginning of the solar wind.The blue regions are inside a coronal hole, or open magnetic field region, where the high speed solar wind is accelerated. Superposed are the edges of “honey-comb” shaped patterns of magnetic fields at the …
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2 Comments
January 29th, 2012 at 4:07 am
that’s amazing
January 29th, 2012 at 4:48 am
So what does it mean?