What powers the solar wind? Our Sun [ http://en.wikipedia…] is known to emit a powerful wind [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] of particles with gusts that can even affect astronauts and satellites [ http://www.newscien…] orbiting Earth. The cause of the solar wind [ http://solarscience…] has been debated for decades but is thought to be rooted in Alfvén waves [ http://plasmadictio…] generated by the ever changing magnetic field [ http://solar.physic…] of the Sun. Newly released images [ http://www.nasa.gov…] from the Japanese Hinode satellite [ http://en.wikipedia…] appear to bolster this hypothesis, imaging an average of 240 daily plasma jets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] that are excellent candidates to fuel the outwardly moving Alfvén [ http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Hannes_Alfv én ] waves. The jets and waves are themselves ultimately created by magnetic reconnection [ http://en.wikipedia…] events, rapid events where lines of constant magnetic field [ http://www.youtube.…] suddenly move extremely rapidly, dragging electrons [ http://www-spof.gsf…] and proton [ http://en.wikipedia…]s along with them. On the image [ http://www.nasa.gov…] left, one such jet is visible in X-ray [ http://science.hq.n…] light. Bright spots show relatively energetic regions elsewhere on the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].
Explanation
What powers the solar wind? Our Sun [ http://en.wikipedia…] is known to emit a powerful wind [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] of particles with gusts that can even affect astronauts and satellites [ http://www.newscien…] orbiting Earth. The cause of the solar wind [ http://solarscience…] has been debated for decades but is thought to be rooted in Alfvén waves [ http://plasmadictio…] generated by the ever changing magnetic field [ http://solar.physic…] of the Sun. Newly released images [ http://www.nasa.gov…] from the Japanese Hinode satellite [ http://en.wikipedia…] appear to bolster this hypothesis, imaging an average of 240 daily plasma jets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] that are excellent candidates to fuel the outwardly moving Alfvén [ http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Hannes_Alfv én ] waves. The jets and waves are themselves ultimately created by magnetic reconnection [ http://en.wikipedia…] events, rapid events where lines of constant magnetic field [ http://www.youtube.…] suddenly move extremely rapidly, dragging electrons [ http://www-spof.gsf…] and proton [ http://en.wikipedia…]s along with them. On the image [ http://www.nasa.gov…] left, one such jet is visible in X-ray [ http://science.hq.n…] light. Bright spots show relatively energetic regions elsewhere on the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].
