US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — The sun is a source of a constant stream of particles. Neutrinos, electrons, protons, alpha particles, as well as heavier atomic nuclei all together make up the corpuscular radiation of the Sun. A significant part of this radiation is a more or less continuous outflow of plasma, the so-called solar wind, which is a continuation of the outer layers of the solar atmosphere – the solar corona. Near the Earth, its speed is usually 400-500 km / s. A stream of charged particles is ejected from the Sun through coronal holes, regions in the atmosphere of the Sun with a magnetic field open to interplanetary space.
The first measurements of the solar wind were made in 1959 at the AMS “Luna-9”. In 1962, Mariner-2, heading toward Venus, made observations of the solar wind and obtained the following results: the speed of the solar wind varied from 350 m / s to 800 m / s, the average concentration of the solar wind is 5.4 ions per 1 cm 3 , the ion temperature is 160,000 K. The average magnetic field is 6×10 –5 Oersted.
SOHO International Space Station has learned a lot about the solar wind. It turned out that he carries such elements as nickel, iron, silicon, sulfur, calcium, chromium.
The sun rotates with a period of 27 days. The trajectories of the particles of the solar wind moving along the lines of induction of the magnetic field have a spiral structure due to the rotation of the sun. As a result of the rotation of the Sun, the geometric shape of the solar wind flow will be an Archimedean spiral, resembling the shape of a stream of water from a garden hose rotating around an axis.
On days of solar storms, the solar wind sharply intensifies. It causes auroras and magnetic storms on Earth, and astronauts should not go into open space at this time.
Under the influence of the solar wind, the tails of comets are always directed away from the Sun. The Voyager spacecraft detected a solar wind even beyond the orbit of Pluto. In fact, we live in the giant heliosphere formed by the solar wind, although they are protected from it by the Earth’s magnetic field.
The sun is a powerful source of radio emission. Centimeter radio waves penetrate the interplanetary space, which are emitted by the chromosphere, and longer waves emitted by the corona.
If the Sun emits relatively stable rays in visible rays (changes occur by a fraction of a percent), then in the radio range the radiation can change hundreds or even thousands of times. The radio emission of the Sun has two components – constant and variable. The constant component characterizes the radio emission of a calm Sun. The solar corona emits radio waves as a completely black body with a temperature T = 10 6 K. The variable component of the solar radio emission manifests itself in the form of bursts, noise storms. Noise storms last from a few hours to several days. 10 minutes after a strong solar flare, the radio emission of the Sun increases thousands or even millions of times in comparison with the radio emission of the calm Sun and lasts from several minutes to several hours. This radio emission is non-thermal in nature.
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