In 1910, Arthur Eddington, a British Astrophysicist, discovered solar winds. Solar winds are basically a continuous flow (they are never ending basically) of particles from the sun. They are also known as stellar winds. Their usual way out of the sun is the coronal holes. Their main cause is an expansion of gases in the corona, which is the outer layer of the sun. The idea that the corona is plasma was thought of by Richard C. Carrington. The temperature of the corona is 2,200,000 degrees Celsius. It is so hot that not even the sun’s gravity can contain it. It heats gases and makes them expand. The gas items run into each other as they are heated. As a result, they lose their electrons. Then, the atoms become ions with a positive charge, the electrons and ions (which are mostly Hydrogen ions) make up the solar wind. The velocity of solar winds goes from 250 to 1000 kilometers every second. It has a density of 82 ions for every cubic inch, or 5 ions per cubic centimeter. Solar winds are the cause of many occurrences in the solar system like Mercury having no atmosphere, and Venus’ acidic, radiation filled clouds. They are also known as electrically charged hurricanes.
The magnetosphere, which is a constituency of strong magnetic forces surrounding Earth, gets compressed to become a teardrop shape by the solar wind as it moves past Earth. The magnetosphere stops the solar wind from reaching our Earth’s surface. When the solar wind blusters on a comet, it makes an ion tail which is one of the many types of tails a comet can have. There are some ion tails that are long and straight, and there are some made of ionized matter, that solar winds blow off the comet. Some solar winds miss the Earth when solar winds infringe our magnetic fi...
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... You can think of solar winds as the external corona in an episode of continuous expansion. The solar wind is made of pretty much the same material as the lower corona or photosphere of the sun. Solar winds usually have lots of Hydrogen because Hydrogen tends to be attracted to solar winds. This is much unlike Helium because Helium is not attracted to solar winds. The sun loses little bits of energy because solar winds take atom parts (protons, and electrons) from it. Solar winds take over 1,000,000 tons worth of mass from the sun every second, but our sun’s mass is so much that this much mass is considered pretty much nothing. The sun’s heliosphere is taken over by solar winds. The solar winds have less and less pressure as it gets farther and farther from the sun. At 100 AU from the sun the solar winds cannot balance on their own because it is interstellar space.
All instruments aboard the SOHO spacecraft fall under one of the following headings based on what area of the Sun it is suppose to observe and measure: the solar interior, the solar atmosphere, or the solar wind. The solar interior instruments such as GOLF (Global Oscillations at Low Frequencies) and VIRGO (Variability of Solar Irradiance and Gravity Oscillations) both perform oscillation measurements of the full solar disk which obtains information concerning the solar nucleus. In addition, the instruments that measure the solar atmosphere such as the CDS (Coronal Diagnostics Spectrometer) and UVCS (Ultraviolet Coronograph Spectrometer) observe both the inner and outer corona. They obtain measurements of temperature, density, composition, and velocity in the corona with high resolution. Finally, the instruments that analyze and measure the solar wind include ERNE (Energetic and Relativistic Nuclei and Electron experiment) and CELIAS (Charge, Element, and Isotope Analysis System) which measure the charge state and isotopic composition of ions in the solar wind. These two instruments also determine the charge and isotopic composition of energetic particles generated by the Sun.
Astronomers trust that comets are leftovers of ice, rocks and gas from what shaped the planets billions of years ago. They also trust comets are strongly linked to life on earth, bringing some of the water and carbon based molecules that fuels life on soil.
Within our Solar System lies an abundance of planets, each with their own unique characteristics, including the Terrestrial planets of Venus, Earth, and Mars who vary in many aspects but, most importantly, their atmosphere.
Solar nebula is a rotating flattened disk of gas and dust in which the outer part of the disk became planets while the center bulge part became the sun. Its inner part is hot, which is heated by a young sun and due to the impact of the gas falling on the disk during its collapse. However, the outer part is cold and far below the freezing point of water. In the solar nebula, the process of condensation occurs after enough cooling of solar nebula and results in the formation into a disk. Condensation is a process of cooling the gas and its molecules stick together to form liquid or solid particles. Therefore, condensation is the change from gas to liquid. In this process, the gas must cool below a critical temperature. Accretion is the process in which the tiny condensed particles from the nebula begin to stick together to form bigger pieces. Solar nebular theory explains the formation of the solar system. In the solar nebula, tiny grains stuck together and created bigger grains that grew into clumps, possibly held together by electrical forces similar to those that make lint stick to your clothes. Subsequent collisions, if not too violent, allowed these smaller particles to grow into objects ranging in size from millimeters to kilometers. These larger objects are called planetesimals. As planetesimals moved within the disk and collide with one another, planets formed. Because astronomers have no direct way to observe how the Solar System formed, they rely heavily on computer simulations to study that remote time. Computer simulations try to solve Newton’s laws of motion for the complex mix of dust and gas that we believe made up the solar nebula. Merging of the planetesimals increased their mass and thus their gravitational attraction. That, in turn, helped them grow even more massive by drawing planetesimals into clumps or rings around the sun. The process of planets building undergoes consumption of most of the planetesimals. Some survived planetesimals form small moons, asteroids, and comets. The leftover Rocky planetesimals that remained between Jupiter and Mars were stirred by Jupiter’s gravitational force. Therefore, these Rocky planetesimals are unable to assemble into a planet. These planetesimals are known as asteroids. Formation of solar system is explained by solar nebular theory. A rotating flat disk with center bulge is the solar nebula. The outer part of the disk becomes planets and the center bulge becomes the sun.
Solar wind is an example of space weather. Solar wind is when the a star ejects particles from its corona. These particles are usually electron and protons and the rate of ejection depends solely on the stars activity at the time. Space weather are the conditions in the space environment that humans are interested in because they have impacts on the health and safety of equipment and humans in space and on the ground. Examples of space weather are the particle density, IMF-interplanetary magnetic field-, strength and orientation, and the number of protons and electrons. Space weather can be both celestial and deadly; the most mystical things can be a result of space weather but deadly consequences too. Space weather depends mainly on the star, for example: the stars activity, the intensity of the stars flares,...
A comet is composed primarily of ice and rock. Comets are thought to be remnants from the formation of the solar system, which occurred over four-and-a-half billion years ago. Comets have three main parts: the nucleus, the coma, and the tail. The main part of the comet, where the majority of its mass is located, is the nucleus. Like stated earlier, the comet is composed of ice, rock, and dust particles, all of which are located in the nucleus. This is actually the only “natural” part of the comet; it is the only part of the comet that is not formed from the effects of external forces. The coma of the comet is located around the nucleus. It is formed from melted ice and rock and dust sediment. The tail of the comet is also composed of these materials, but, unlike the nucleus and the coma, and as the name suggests, it is located behind the two other structures. These structures make up the entirety of the comet as we view them. The coma and the tail are formed from the effect of gravity and solar radiation. Solar radiation causes the ice to melt, so as to form the two structures, and gravity conforms them into the shapes that we observe in the night sky. These two fac...
Our solar system, as we see it today, originally formed from the collapse of a very cold and low-density cloud of gas. The mass of this cloud was composed of 98% hydrogen and helium, 1.4% hydrogen compounds, .4% rock, and .2% metal. The nebula was thought to be a few light years across and was roughly spherical in shape. The cloud was in a state of balance, it was neither contracting or expanding, until a cataclysmic event, most likely a supernova, created a shock wave through the nebula, resulting in an area of higher mass. Once this area became more massive than the rest of the nebula it begin to collapse with the area of hig...
The idea behind the Solar Nebular Hypothesis is that the solar system was condensed from an enormous cloud of hydrogen, helium, and a few other elements and rocks. Around five billion years this cloud of materials began to spin and contract together into a disk shape under their own gravitational forces. The particles started combined together, protoplanets, to eventually form planets. A great mass of the material eventually began to form together, protosun, and make up the sun.
Smil, Vaclav. "The Long Slow Rise Of Solar And Wind." Scientific American 310.1 (2014): 52-57. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 May 2014.
Thunderheads. The air begins swirling around the storm center, for the same reason that the air swirls around a tornado center. As this air swirls in over the sea surface, it soaks up more and more water vapor. At the storm center, this new supply of water vapor gets pulled into the thunderhead updrafts, releasing still more energy as the water vapor condenses. This makes the updrafts rise faster, pulling in even larger amounts of air and
There are many different sources of energy that are naturally available throughout the world in different forms. There are two types of energy: renewable and non-renewable. Non-renewable is made from fossil fuels; which can include oil, coal and wood. They are non-renewable because they are not regenerated immediately, and it can take between 100-100,000 years to make a fossil fuel. They are important because they produce constant energy throughout the world. This is because of their high availability. The problem with non-renewable energy is that, when burned, they release harmful greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Especially when the world, as a whole, is using too much too quickly; and therefore the earth cannot replenish the fuels naturally or quickly enough. Renewable sources of energy are obtained from different natural sources. A benefit about this kind of energy is that it can be replaced and it is sustainable. Renewable energy is important because it is used significantly in electricity generation and heating. It is also important because it can be replenished, and therefore it is better for the environment.
The Earth captures around 342 W/m2 of energy from the sun. This energy is in the form of solar radiation, which the atmosphere reflects about 77 W/m2 and will absorb around 68 W/m2 of solar radiation annually. Therefore, the Earth’s surface is receiving, on average, about 197 W/m2 of solar radiation annually. This amount of energy received is roughly more than 10,000 times the amount of all energy humans consume per year. This energy can be used to produce electricity or heat. This energy source is not being used to it’s potential considering how much effort would come into effect to store and transport this energy.
In the recent years, the impact that wind energy has had in our daily life in general, is undeniable. Therefore, when it comes to the question that whether wind energy should be further developed, people’s notions vary from one to another. But one indisputable factor is that the growth of wind energy is skyrocketing and this trend is expected to continue into the future.
A solar storm in general consists of three major kinds of solar activities – solar flares, solar proton events (SPE), and coronal mass ejection (CME) (Marusek 2007). These solar activities, sometimes happening together, can affect the Earth in various ways.