Solar Wind

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Solar Wind

• Mike Roy
• Geology 276

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Outline

• Composition
• History
• Origin
• Effects on earth
• Ways to measure the solar wind
• Practical uses of solar wind

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What is solar wind?

• Solar wind is a stream of ions and other
  particles (plasma) that escapes from the sun
• It has the same composition as the corona
• Solar wind reaches speeds of between 200-900 km/s
• Over 800kg/s of solar mass is lost due to solar
  wind

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Origins of solar wind

• The solar wind has been around since the
  formation of the sun
• 1958 Eugene Parker came to the conclusion that
  there is a solar wind
• Due to twisting of magnet fields sunspots
• Carried away by the suns magnetic field, out to
  160 Gm

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What protects the Earth?

• The earths strong magnetic field
• Atmosphere
• Ionosphere
• Without magnetic field the no life would survive
  on earth

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Effects of solar wind

• Aurora Borealis
• Massive amounts of radiation
• Causes damages to satellites and spacecraft
• Telecommunications/
• power grid interruptions

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Studying solar wind

• SOHO
• Joint ESA and NASA mission
• Measures solar wind activity
• Genesis spacecraft
• Collect solar wind sample
• Currently being analyzed

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Uses

• Mariner 10 used solar wind when fuel supplies ran
  low
• Space sails
• No fuel needs
• Extremely fast

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Questions

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