Solar wind

A continuous flow of charged particles, mainly protons and electrons, escaping the Sun into interplanetary space. It carries the Sun’s magnetic field outward and interacts with planets and other bodies.

Solar corona: The Sun’s outer atmosphere, extending millions of kilometers above its visible surface. The hot corona supplies the particles that escape as solar wind.
Eugene Parker: An American astrophysicist who developed the theory of the solar wind in the 1950s. His calculations predicted a continuous outward flow before it was directly measured.
Geomagnetic storm: A major disturbance of Earth’s magnetosphere caused by enhanced solar-wind energy and magnetic coupling. Fast streams and interplanetary disturbances can trigger these storms.
Interplanetary magnetic field: The portion of the Sun’s magnetic field carried outward through interplanetary space by the solar wind. The wind transports this field, which governs many interactions with planets.
Magnetic reconnection: A process in which magnetic-field topology changes and magnetic energy is converted into particle energy and heat. Reconnection transfers solar-wind energy into planetary magnetospheres.
Parker solar probe: A NASA spacecraft launched in 2018 to study the Sun’s corona and inner heliosphere. Its close passes measure solar wind near its source.
Ludwig Biermann: A German astrophysicist who inferred a stream of solar particles from comet-tail behavior. Comet tails supplied early evidence that the Sun pushes material outward.
Aurora: Light emitted in a planet’s upper atmosphere when energetic charged particles excite atmospheric atoms and molecules. Solar-wind energy helps power auroras at Earth and other planets.
Heliospheric plasma sheet: A dense, thin layer of solar-wind plasma near the heliospheric current sheet. It forms within the outward-flowing plasma carried by the solar wind.
Atmospheric escape: The loss of atmospheric particles to space through thermal or nonthermal processes. Solar-wind interactions can remove particles, especially from bodies with weak magnetic protection.

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