The
solar wind is a stream of charged particles—a
plasma—ejected from the upper atmosphere of the sun. It consists mostly
of electrons and protons with energies of about 1 keV. The stream of
particles varies in temperature and speed with the passage of time.
These particles are able to escape the sun's gravity, in part because of
the high temperature of the corona, but also because of high kinetic
energy that particles gain through a process that is not
well-understood.
The solar wind creates the Heliosphere, a vast
bubble in the interstellar medium surrounding the solar system. Other
phenomena include geomagnetic storms that can knock out power grids on
Earth, the aurorae such as the Northern Lights, and the plasma tails of
comets that always point away from the sun.
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