Figure 1. Helisphere

Figure 2. Solar flare.

The solar wind is a continuous flow of plasma of solar origin, propagating approximately radially from the Sun and filling the solar system up to heliocentric distances of the order of 100 AU. SV is formed during the gas-dynamic expansion of the solar corona into interplanetary space.

Average characteristics of the solar wind in the Earth's orbit: speed 400 km / s, proton density - 6 per 1, proton temperature 50,000 K, electron temperature 150,000 K, magnetic field strength 5 · oersted. Solar wind streams can be divided into two classes: slow - with a speed of about 300 km / s and fast - with a speed of 600-700 km / s. The solar wind arising over areas of the Sun with different orientations of the magnetic field, forms flows with differently oriented interplanetary magnetic field - the so-called sector structure of the interplanetary magnetic field.

The interplanetary sector structure is the division of the observed large-scale structure of the Solar Wind into an even number of sectors with different directions of the radial component of the interplanetary magnetic field.

The characteristics of the Solar wind (speed, temperature, concentration of particles, etc.) also, on average, regularly change in the cross section of each sector, which is associated with the existence of a fast flow of the Solar wind inside the sector. Sector boundaries are usually located within the slow flow of the Solar Wind. Most often, two or four sectors are observed rotating with the Sun. This structure, formed when the solar wind pulls the large-scale magnetic field of the corona, can be observed during several solar revolutions. The sectorial structure is a consequence of the existence of a current sheet in the interplanetary medium, which rotates with the Sun. The current sheet creates a jump in the magnetic field: above the layer, the radial component of the interplanetary magnetic field has one sign, below it - another. The current sheet is located approximately in the plane of the solar equator and has a folded structure. The rotation of the Sun leads to the twisting of the folds of the current sheet in a spiral (the so-called "ballerina effect"). Being near the plane of the ecliptic, the observer turns out to be either higher or lower than the current sheet, due to which he finds himself in sectors with different signs of the radial component of the interplanetary magnetic field.

When the Solar wind flows around obstacles that can effectively deflect the Solar wind (the magnetic fields of Mercury, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn or the conducting ionospheres of Venus and, apparently, Mars), a bow shock wave is formed. The solar wind is decelerated and heated at the front of the shock wave, which allows it to flow around the obstacle. In this case, a cavity is formed in the solar wind - a magnetosphere, the shape and size of which is determined by the balance between the pressure of the planet's magnetic field and the pressure of the flowing plasma stream. The shock front is about 100 km thick. In the case of the interaction of the Solar Wind with a non-conducting body (the Moon), a shock wave does not arise: the plasma flow is absorbed by the surface, and a cavity gradually filled with the Solar wind plasma forms behind the body.

The stationary process of corona plasma outflow is superimposed on non-stationary processes associated with solar flares. With strong solar flares, matter is ejected from the lower regions of the corona into the interplanetary medium. In this case, a shock wave is also formed, which gradually slows down as it moves through the solar wind plasma.

The arrival of the shock wave to the Earth leads to compression of the magnetosphere, after which the development of a magnetic storm usually begins.

The solar wind extends to a distance of about 100 AU, where the pressure of the interstellar medium balances the dynamic pressure of the solar wind. The cavity swept by the solar wind in the interstellar medium forms the heliosphere. The solar wind, together with the magnetic field frozen into it, prevents the penetration of galactic cosmic rays of low energies into the solar system and leads to variations in cosmic rays of high energies.

A phenomenon similar to the solar wind has been found in some types of other stars (stellar wind).

The flow of energy from the Sun, fueled by a thermonuclear reaction at its center, is fortunately extremely stable, unlike most other stars. Most of it is eventually emitted from the Sun's thin surface layer - the photosphere - in the form of visible and infrared electromagnetic waves. The solar constant (the magnitude of the solar energy flux in the Earth's orbit) is 1370 W /. You can imagine that for every square meter of the Earth's surface there is the power of one electric kettle. Above the photosphere is the Sun's crown - a zone visible from Earth only during solar eclipses and filled with rarefied and hot plasma with a temperature of millions of degrees.

This is the most unstable shell of the Sun, in which the main manifestations of solar activity, affecting the Earth, originate. The shaggy view of the Sun's corona demonstrates the structure of its magnetic field - luminous clumps of plasma are elongated along the lines of force. Hot plasma emanating from the corona forms the solar wind - a stream of ions (consisting of 96% of hydrogen nuclei - protons and 4% of helium nuclei - alpha particles) and electrons, accelerating into interplanetary space at a speed of 400-800 km / s ...

The solar wind stretches and carries away the solar magnetic field.

This is because the energy of the directed motion of the plasma in the outer corona is greater than the energy of the magnetic field, and the principle of freezing-in entrains the field behind the plasma. The combination of such a radial outflow with the rotation of the Sun (and the magnetic field is "attached" to its surface) leads to the formation of a spiral structure of the interplanetary magnetic field - the so-called Parker's spiral.

The solar wind and magnetic field fill the entire solar system, and thus the Earth and all other planets are actually in the sun's corona, experiencing not only electromagnetic radiation, but also the solar wind and solar magnetic field.

During the period of minimum activity, the configuration of the solar magnetic field is close to dipole and is similar to the shape of the Earth's magnetic field. As the activity reaches its maximum, the structure of the magnetic field becomes more complex for reasons that are not entirely clear. One of the most beautiful hypotheses says that when the Sun rotates, the magnetic field seems to wind on it, gradually sinking under the photosphere. Over time, during just a solar cycle, the magnetic flux accumulated under the surface becomes so large that the bundles of lines of force begin to be pushed outward.

The places where the field lines emerge form spots on the photosphere and magnetic loops in the corona, which are visible as regions of increased plasma glow in X-ray images of the Sun. The magnitude of the field inside sunspots reaches 0.01 Tesla, a hundred times greater than the field of the quiet Sun.

Intuitively, the energy of the magnetic field can be associated with the length and number of lines of force: the more of them, the higher the energy. When approaching the solar maximum, the enormous energy accumulated in the field begins to periodically explosively release, spending on the acceleration and heating of the particles of the solar corona.

Sharp intense bursts of short-wave electromagnetic radiation from the Sun accompanying this process are called solar flares. On the Earth's surface, flares are recorded in the visible range as small increases in the brightness of individual parts of the solar surface.

However, even the first measurements carried out on board spacecraft showed that the most noticeable effect of flares is a significant (up to hundreds of times) increase in the flux of solar X-ray radiation and energetic charged particles - solar cosmic rays.

During some flares, significant amounts of plasma and magnetic field are also ejected into the solar wind - the so-called magnetic clouds, which begin to expand rapidly into interplanetary space, retaining the shape of a magnetic loop with ends resting on the Sun.

The plasma density and the magnitude of the magnetic field inside the cloud are tens of times higher than the values ​​of these parameters in the solar wind typical for quiet times.

Despite the fact that during a large flare up to 1025 joules of energy can be released, the total increase in the energy flux at the solar maximum is small and amounts to only 0.1-0.2%.

sunny wind

Such recognition is worth a lot, because it revives to life the half-forgotten solar-plasmoid hypothesis of the origin and development of life on Earth, put forward by the Ulyanovsk scientist BA Solomin almost 30 years ago.

The solar-plasmoid hypothesis states that highly organized solar and terrestrial plasmoids have played and still play a key role in the origin and development of life and intelligence on Earth. This hypothesis is so interesting, especially in the light of the experimental data obtained by Novosibirsk scientists, that it is worth getting to know it in more detail.

First of all, what is a plasmoid? A plasmoid is a plasma system structured by its own magnetic field. Plasma, in turn, is a hot, ionized gas. The simplest example of plasma is fire. Plasma has the ability to dynamically interact with a magnetic field, to keep the field in itself. And the field, in turn, orders the chaotic motion of charged plasma particles. Under certain conditions, a stable but dynamic system is formed, consisting of a plasma and a magnetic field.

The source of plasmoids in the solar system is the sun. Around the Sun, as well as around the Earth, there is an atmosphere. The outer part of the solar atmosphere, made up of hot, ionized hydrogen plasma, is called the solar corona. And if on the surface of the Sun the temperature is about 10,000 K, then due to the flow of energy coming from its interior, the temperature of the corona reaches 1.5-2 million K. Since the density of the corona is low, such heating is not balanced by the loss of energy due to radiation.

In 1957, Professor of the University of Chicago E. Parker published his hypothesis that the solar corona is not in hydrostatic equilibrium, but is continuously expanding. In this case, a significant part of the solar radiation is a more or less continuous outflow of plasma, the so-called sunny wind, which carries away excess energy. That is, the solar wind is an extension of the solar corona.

It took two years for this prediction to be confirmed experimentally using instruments installed on the Soviet spacecraft Luna-2 and Luna-3. Later it turned out that the solar wind carries away from the surface of our star, in addition to energy and information, about a million tons of matter per second. It contains mainly protons, electrons, a few helium nuclei, oxygen, silicon, sulfur, nickel, chromium and iron ions.

In 2001, the Americans launched the Genesis spacecraft, designed to study the solar wind, into orbit. Having flown more than one and a half million kilometers, the device approached the so-called Lagrange point, where the gravitational effect of the Earth is balanced by the gravitational forces of the Sun, and deployed its traps of solar wind particles there. In 2004, a capsule with collected particles crashed to the ground, contrary to a planned soft landing. The particles were “washed away” and photographed.

To date, observations made from Earth satellites and other spacecraft show that interplanetary space is filled with an active medium - the flow of the solar wind, which originates in the upper layers of the solar atmosphere.

When flares occur on the Sun, plasma flows and magnetic-plasma formations - plasmoids - scatter from it through sunspots (coronal holes) - regions in the Sun's atmosphere with a magnetic field open to interplanetary space. This stream moves from the Sun with significant acceleration, and if at the base of the corona the radial velocity of particles is several hundred m / s, then near the Earth it reaches 400–500 km / s.

Reaching the Earth, the solar wind causes changes in its ionosphere, magnetic storms, which significantly affects biological, geological, mental and even historical processes. The great Russian scientist A.L. Chizhevsky wrote about this at the beginning of the 20th century, who since 1918 in Kaluga for three years conducted experiments in the field of aeroionization and came to the conclusion: negatively charged plasma ions have a beneficial effect on living organisms, and positively charged act in the opposite way. In those distant times, 40 years remained before the discovery and study of the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere!

Plasmoids are present in the Earth's biosphere, including in the dense layers of the atmosphere and near its surface. In his book "Biosphere" V. I. Vernadsky was the first to describe the mechanism of the surface shell, finely coordinated in all its manifestations. Without the biosphere there would be no globe, for, according to Vernadsky, the Earth is "molded" by the Cosmos with the help of the biosphere. It "sculpts" thanks to the use of information, energy and substance. “In essence, the biosphere can be viewed as a region of the earth's crust, occupied by transformers(our italics .- Auth.), converting cosmic radiation into effective terrestrial energy - electrical, chemical, thermal, mechanical, etc. " (nine). It was the biosphere, or "the geological force of the planet," as Vernadsky called it, that began to change the structure of the cycle of matter in nature and "create new forms and organizations of inert and living matter." It is likely that, speaking about transformers, Vernadsky was talking about plasmoids, about which at that time they did not know anything at all.

The solar-plasmoid hypothesis explains the role of plasmoids in the origin of life and intelligence on Earth. In the early stages of evolution, plasmoids could become a kind of active "crystallization centers" for the denser and colder molecular structures of the early Earth. “Dressing” in relatively cold and dense molecular clothes, becoming a kind of internal “energy cocoons” of emerging biochemical systems, they were simultaneously the control centers of a complex system, directing evolutionary processes towards the formation of living organisms (10). A similar conclusion was also reached by the scientists of MNIIKA, who were able to achieve materialization of uneven aetheric streams under experimental conditions.

The aura that sensitive physical devices fix around biological objects is, apparently, the outer part of the plasmoid "energy cocoon" of a living being. It can be assumed that the energy channels and biologically active points of oriental medicine are the internal structures of the “energy cocoon”.

The Sun is the source of plasmoid life for the Earth, and the streams of the solar wind bring us this life principle.

And what is the source of plasmoid life for the Sun? To answer this question, it is necessary to assume that life at any level does not arise "by itself", but is brought in from a more global, highly organized, rarefied and energetic system. As for the Earth, the Sun is a "mother system", so for a luminary there must be a similar "mother system" (11).

According to the Ulyanovsk scientist BA Solomin, interstellar plasma, hot hydrogen clouds, nebulae containing magnetic fields, and also relativistic (that is, moving at a speed close to the speed of light) electrons could serve as the "mother system" for the Sun. A large amount of rarefied and very hot (millions of degrees) plasma and relativistic electrons, structured by magnetic fields, fill the galactic corona - a sphere that contains a flat stellar disk of our Galaxy. Global galactic plasmoid and relativistic-electron clouds, the level of organization of which is incommensurate with that of the sun, give rise to plasmoid life on the Sun and other stars. Thus, the galactic wind serves as the carrier of plasmoid life for the Sun.

And what is the "mother system" for galaxies? In the formation of the global structure of the Universe, scientists pay a large role to ultra-light elementary particles - neutrinos, literally penetrating space in all directions at speeds close to the speed of light. It is precisely neutrino inhomogeneities, clumps, clouds that could serve as those "frameworks" or "crystallization centers" around which galaxies and their clusters were formed in the early Universe. Neutrino clouds are even more subtle and energetic level of matter than the stellar and galactic "mother systems" of cosmic life described above. They could well have been evolution constructors for the latter.

Let's rise, finally, to the highest level of consideration - to the level of our Universe as a whole, which arose about 20 billion years ago. Studying its global structure, scientists have established that galaxies and their clusters are located in space not chaotically or evenly, but in a quite definite way. They are concentrated along the walls of huge spatial "honeycombs", inside which, as it was believed until the recent past, giant "voids" - voids are contained. However, today it is already known that "voids" in the Universe do not exist. It can be assumed that everything is filled with a "special substance", the carrier of which is the primary torsion fields. This "special substance", which represents the basis of all vital functions, may well be for our Universe that World Architect, Cosmic Consciousness, the Highest Mind, which gives meaning to its existence and the direction of evolution.

If this is so, then already at the moment of its birth, our Universe was alive and intelligent. Life and mind do not arise independently in any cold molecular oceans on the planets, they are inherent in the cosmos. The cosmos is saturated with various forms of life, sometimes strikingly different from the usual protein-nucleic acid systems and incomparable with them in their complexity and degree of intelligence, space-time scales, energy and mass.

It is the rarefied and hot matter that guides the evolution of the denser and colder matter. This seems to be a fundamental law of nature. Cosmic life hierarchically descends from the mysterious matter of voids to neutrino clouds, the intergalactic medium, and from them to the nuclei of galaxies and galactic corona in the form of relativistic-electronic and plasma-magnetic structures, then to interstellar space, to the stars and, finally, to the planets ... Cosmic intelligent life creates in its own image and likeness all local forms of life and controls their evolution (10).

Along with the well-known conditions (temperature, pressure, chemical composition, etc.) for the emergence of life, the planet must have a pronounced magnetic field, not only protecting living molecules from deadly radiation, but also creating a concentration of solar-galactic plasmoid life around it in the form of radiation belts ... Of all the planets in the solar system (except for the Earth), only Jupiter has a strong magnetic field and large radiation belts. Therefore, there is some certainty about the presence of molecular intelligent life on Jupiter, although, possibly, of a non-protein nature.

With a high degree of probability, it can be assumed that all processes on the young Earth did not proceed chaotically or independently, but were directed by highly organized plasmoid evolutionary constructors. The current hypothesis of the origin of life on Earth also recognizes the need for the presence of certain plasma factors, namely, powerful lightning discharges in the atmosphere of the early Earth.

Not only the birth, but also the further evolution of protein-nucleic acid systems proceeded in close interaction with plasmoid life, with the latter playing a guiding role. Over time, this interaction became more and more subtle, rose to the level of the psyche, soul, and then the spirit of increasingly complex living organisms. The spirit and soul of living and intelligent beings is a very thin plasma matter of solar and terrestrial origin.

It has been established that plasmoids living in the radiation belts of the Earth (mainly of solar and galactic origin) can descend along the lines of the Earth's magnetic field into the lower layers of the atmosphere, especially at those points where these lines most intensively cross the Earth's surface, namely in the regions of the magnetic poles (north and south).

In general, plasmoids are extremely widespread on Earth. They can have a high degree of organization, show some signs of life and intelligence. Soviet and American expeditions to the region of the South Magnetic Pole in the middle of the 20th century encountered unusual luminous objects floating in the air and behaving very aggressively towards the members of the expedition. They were named the plasmosaurs of Antarctica.

Since the early 1990s, the registration of plasmoids not only on Earth, but also in nearby space has increased significantly. These are balls, stripes, circles, cylinders, little-formed glowing spots, ball lightning, etc. Scientists have managed to divide all objects into two large groups. These are primarily objects that have distinct signs of known physical processes, but in them these signs are presented in a completely unusual combination. Another group of objects, on the contrary, has no analogies with known physical phenomena, and therefore their properties are generally inexplicable on the basis of existing physics.

It is worth noting the existence of terrestrial plasmoids, which are born in fault zones where active geological processes are taking place. In this respect, Novosibirsk is interesting, standing on active faults and having, in connection with this, a special electromagnetic structure over the city. All glow and flashes registered over the city tend to these faults and are explained by vertical energy imbalance and activity of space.

The largest number of luminous objects is observed in the central area of ​​the city, located on the site where the thickening of technical energy sources and faults of the granite massif coincide.

For example, in March 1993, a disc-shaped object about 18 meters in diameter and 4.5 meters thick was observed near the hostel of the Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University. A crowd of schoolchildren chased this object, which slowly drifted over the ground for 2.5 kilometers. Schoolchildren tried to throw stones at him, but they deviated, not reaching the object. Then the children began to run up under the object and amuse themselves with the fact that their hats were thrown off them, as their hair stood on end from the electric voltage. Finally, this object flew to the high-voltage transmission line, without deviating anywhere, flew along it, gained speed, luminosity, turned into a bright ball and went up (12).

It should be especially noted the appearance of luminous objects in experiments carried out by Novosibirsk scientists in Kozyrev's mirrors. Thanks to the creation of left-right-rotating torsion flows due to rotating light currents in the windings of the laser thread and cones, scientists were able to simulate the information space of the planet in the Kozyrev mirror with the plasmoids that appeared in it. It was possible to study the influence of the emerging luminous objects on cells, and then on the person himself, as a result of which confidence in the correctness of the solar-plasmoid hypothesis was strengthened. The conviction appeared that not only the birth, but also the further evolution of protein-nucleic acid systems proceeded and proceeds in close interaction with plasmoid life with the guiding role of highly organized plasmoids.

SUNNY WIND- a continuous flow of plasma of solar origin, spreading approximately radially from the Sun and filling the solar system to heliocentric. distances R ~ 100 AU. e. C. in. formed when gasdynamic. expansion of the solar corona (see. The sun) into interplanetary space. At high temperatures pax, which exist in the solar corona (1.5 * 10 9 K), the pressure of the overlying layers cannot balance the gas pressure of the corona matter, and the corona expands.

The first evidence of the existence of post. plasma fluxes from the Sun were obtained by L. Biermann in the 1950s. on the analysis of forces acting on plasma tails of comets. In 1957, Y. Parker (E. Parker), analyzing the conditions of equilibrium of the corona substance, showed that the corona cannot be under hydrostatic conditions. equilibrium, as previously assumed, but should expand, and this expansion under the existing boundary conditions should lead to the acceleration of coronal matter to supersonic speeds (see below). For the first time, a plasma flow of solar origin was recorded on the Soviet spacecraft. apparatus "Luna-2" in 1959. The existence of post. the outflow of plasma from the Sun was proved as a result of many months of measurements on Amer. cosm. apparatus "Mariner-2" in 1962.

Wed S.'s characteristics. are given in table. 1. Streams S. in. can be divided into two classes: slow - with a speed of 300 km / s and fast - with a speed of 600-700 km / s. Fast currents emanate from areas of the solar corona, where the structure of the magn. the field is close to radial. Some of these areas are coronal holes... Slow streams of S. in. connected, apparently, with areas of the crown, in which there is, therefore, a tangential component of magn. fields.

Tab. one.- Average characteristics of the solar wind in the Earth's orbit

Tab. 2.- The relative chemical composition of the solar wind

In addition to the main. of the components of S. v. - protons and electrons, in its composition are also found particles, high ionizations. ions of oxygen, silicon, sulfur, iron (Fig. 1). When analyzing gases trapped in foils exposed on the Moon, atoms of Ne and Ar were found. Wed relative chem. S.'s composition of century is given in table. 2. Ionization. state of matter C. corresponds to the level in the corona where the recombination time is short compared to the expansion time Ionization measurements temperature of S.'s ions of century. allow you to determine the electronic temperature of the solar corona.

In S. in. there are decomp. types of waves: Langmuir, whistlers, ion-sound, magnetosonic, Alfvén, etc. (see. Plasma waves Some of the waves of the Alfvén type are generated on the Sun, and some are excited in the interplanetary medium. The generation of waves smoothes out the deviations of the f-tion of the distribution of particles from Maxwellian and, in conjunction with the effect of magn. field on the plasma leads to the fact that S. century. behaves like a continuous medium. Waves of the Alfvén type play an important role in the acceleration of small components of the shock wave. and in the formation of the f-tion of the distribution of protons. In S. in. contact and rotational discontinuities are also observed, which are characteristic of magnetized plasma.

Fig. 1. Mass spectrum of the solar wind. The horizontal axis is the ratio of the particle mass to its charge, the vertical axis is the number of particles registered in the energy window of the device for 10 s. Numbers with a "+" sign indicate the charge of the ion.

S. stream. is supersonic in relation to the speeds of those types of waves, to-rye provide eff. transmission of energy to S. century. (Alfvén, sound and magnetosonic waves). Alfven and sound Mach number C.in. in the orbit of the Earth 7. When flowing around the S. v. obstacles capable of effectively deflecting it (the magnetic fields of Mercury, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn or the conducting ionospheres of Venus and, apparently, Mars), a detached bow shock wave is formed. C. in. decelerates and heats up at the front of the shock wave, which allows it to flow around the obstacle. Moreover, in S. century. a cavity is formed - a magnetosphere (intrinsic or induced), the shape and size of the cut are determined by the pressure balance of the magnets. fields of the planet and the pressure of the flowing plasma flow (see. Magnetosphere of the Earth, Magnetospheres of planets)... In the case of S.'s interaction of century. with a non-conducting body (for example, the Moon), the shock wave does not arise. The plasma flow is absorbed by the surface, and a cavity is formed behind the body, which is gradually filled with sulfuric plasma.

The stationary process of corona plasma outflow is superimposed on nonstationary processes associated with flares on the sun... With strong flares, matter is ejected from the bottom. regions of the corona into the interplanetary medium. In this case, a shock wave is also formed (Fig. 2), edges gradually slows down, spreading in S.'s plasma of century. The arrival of a shock wave to the Earth causes compression of the magnetosphere, after which the development of magnes usually begins. storms (see. Magnetic variations).

Fig. 2. Propagation of interplanetary shock waves and ejection from a solar flare. Arrows show the direction of motion of the solar wind plasma, lines without signature - lines of force of the magnetic field.

Fig. 3. Types of solutions of the corona expansion equation. The speed and distance are normalized to the critical speed v k and the critical distance R k. Solution 2 corresponds to the solar wind.

The expansion of the solar corona is described by the system of equations for the conservation of mass, the moment of the number of motion and the energy equation. Solutions for dec. the nature of the change in speed with distance are shown in Fig. 3. Solutions 1 and 2 correspond to low velocities at the base of the crown. The choice between these two solutions is determined by the conditions at infinity. Solution 1 corresponds to low rates of expansion of the corona and gives large values ​​of pressure at infinity, i.e., it encounters the same difficulties as the static model. crowns. Solution 2 corresponds to the transition of the expansion rate through the values ​​of the speed of sound ( v to) on some critical. distance R to and subsequent expansion at supersonic speed. This solution gives a vanishingly small pressure at infinity, which makes it possible to match it with the low pressure of the interstellar medium. The course of this type was named by J. Parker by S. century. Critical the point is above the surface of the Sun if the temperature of the corona is less than a certain critical value. meaning , where m is the proton mass, is the adiabatic exponent, and is the mass of the Sun. In fig. 4 shows the change in the expansion rate from heliocentric. distance depending on the temperature of the isothermal. isotropic corona. Subsequent models of S. in. take into account variations in the coronal temperature with distance, the two-fluid nature of the medium (electron and proton gases), thermal conductivity, viscosity, nonspherical. the nature of the expansion.

Fig. 4. Profiles of the solar wind velocity for the isothermal corona model at different values ​​of the coronal temperature.

C. in. provides basic outflow of thermal energy of the corona, since heat transfer to the chromosphere, electromagn. corona radiation and electronic thermal conductivity of S. century. insufficient to establish the thermal balance of the crown. Electronic thermal conductivity provides a slow decrease in the temperature of S. in. with distance. C. in. does not play any significant role in the energy of the Sun as a whole, since the energy flow carried away by it is ~ 10 -7 luminosity The sun.

C. in. carries with it into the interplanetary medium the coronal magn. field. The lines of force of this field frozen into the plasma form an interplanetary magn. field (MMP). Although the intensity of the IMF is low and its energy density is approx. 1% of the density kinetic. energy of a semiconductor, it plays an important role in thermodynamics of semiconductor voltages. and in the dynamics of S.'s interactions. with the bodies of the solar system, as well as the streams of the S. century. between themselves. Combination of S.'s expansion. with the rotation of the sun leads to the fact that magn. the lines of force frozen in in S. century have a shape close to the spiral of Archimedes (Fig. 5). Radial B R and azimuthal components of magn. fields change differently with distance near the plane of the ecliptic:

where is ang. the speed of rotation of the sun, and is the radial component of the velocity of the S. of speed, index 0 corresponds to the initial level. At the distance of the Earth's orbit, the angle between the direction of magn. fields and R about 45 °. At large A magn. the field is almost perpendicular to R.

Fig. 5. The shape of the line of force of the interplanetary magnetic field. is the angular velocity of rotation of the Sun, and is the radial component of the plasma velocity, R is the heliocentric distance.

S. century, arising over the regions of the Sun with decomp. orientation magn. fields, forms flows with differently oriented IMF. Separation of the observed large-scale structure of S. of century. for an even number of sectors with diff. the direction of the radial component of the permafrost is called. interplanetary sector structure. S.'s characteristics. (speed, temp-pa, particle concentration, etc.) also in cf. change naturally in the cross section of each sector, which is associated with the existence of a fast flow of S. v. inside the sector. The boundaries of the sectors are usually located within the slow flow of S. to. Most often, there are 2 or 4 sectors rotating with the Sun. This structure, which is formed during S.'s pulling of century. large-scale magn. fields of the corona, can be observed for several. revolutions of the sun. The IMF sector structure is a consequence of the existence of a current sheet (TC) in the interplanetary medium, which rotates with the Sun. TC creates a jump in magn. fields - the radial components of the IMF have different signs on opposite sides of the TS. This TS, predicted by H. Alfven (N. Alfven), passes through those parts of the solar corona, to-rye connected with active regions on the Sun, and separates the indicated regions with decomp. signs of the radial component of the solar magn. fields. TS is located approximately in the plane of the solar equator and has a folded structure. The rotation of the Sun leads to the twisting of the TS folds in a spiral (Fig. 6). Being near the plane of the ecliptic, the observer turns out to be either higher or lower than the TS, due to which he finds himself in sectors with different signs of the radial component of the IMF.

Near the Sun in the northern century. there are longitudinal and latitudinal velocity gradients due to the difference in the velocities of fast and slow streams. With distance from the Sun and the steepening of the boundary between the streams in the north. radial velocity gradients arise, which lead to the formation collisionless shock waves(fig. 7). First, a shock wave is formed, propagating forward from the boundary of the sectors (direct shock wave), and then a backward shock wave propagating to the Sun is formed.

Fig. 6. The shape of the heliospheric current sheet. Its intersection with the plane of the ecliptic (inclined to the equator of the Sun at an angle of ~ 7 °) gives the observed sector structure of the interplanetary magnetic field.

Fig. 7. The structure of the interplanetary magnetic field sector. Short arrows show the direction of the solar wind plasma flow, lines with arrows - magnetic field lines, dash-dot line - sector boundaries (intersection of the plane of the figure with the current sheet).

Since the velocity of the shock wave is less than the velocity of the solar velocity, the plasma carries the backward shock wave away from the sun. Shock waves near the boundaries of the sectors are formed at distances of ~ 1 AU. e. and traceable to distances of several. but. e. These shock waves, as well as interplanetary shock waves from solar flares and near-planetary shock waves, accelerate particles and are, thus, a source of energetic particles.

C. in. extends to distances of ~ 100 AU. e., where the pressure of the interstellar medium balances the dynamic. S.'s pressure in. The cavity swept out by S. century. in the interstellar medium, forms the heliosphere (see. Interplanetary environment The expanding S. of the century. together with the magnesium frozen into it. field prevents galactic penetration into the solar system. cosm. rays of low energies and leads to variations in cosmic. rays of high energies. A phenomenon analogous to S. of century has also been found in some other stars (see. Stellar wind).

Lit .: Parker E. N., Dynamic processes in the interplanetary medium, trans. from English., M., 1965; B r and d t J., Solar wind, trans. from English., M., 1973; Hundhausen A., Corona expansion and solar wind, trans. from English, M., 1976. O. L. Vaysberg.

The solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere.

Sunny wind ( Solar wind) is the flow of mega-ionized particles (mainly helium-hydrogen plasma) flowing from the solar corona at a speed of 300-1200 km / s into the surrounding space. It is one of the main components of the interplanetary medium.

Many natural phenomena are associated with the solar wind, including space weather such as magnetic storms and auroras.

The concepts of "solar wind" (a stream of ionized particles reaching from the Sun up to 2-3 days) and "sunlight" (a stream of photons reaching from the Sun to the Earth in an average of 8 minutes 17 seconds) should not be confused. In particular, it is the effect of pressure from sunlight (not wind) that is used in so-called solar sail designs. The form of the engine for using the impulse of solar wind ions as a source of thrust is an electric sail.

History

The assumption of the existence of a constant stream of particles flying from the Sun was first suggested by the British astronomer Richard Carrington. In 1859, Carrington and Richard Hodgson independently observed what was later called a solar flare. The next day, a geomagnetic storm occurred, and Carrington hypothesized a connection between these phenomena. Later, George Fitzgerald suggested that matter is periodically accelerated by the Sun and reaches the Earth in a few days.

In 1916, the Norwegian explorer Christian Birkeland wrote: "From a physical point of view, it is most likely that the sun's rays are neither positive nor negative, but both together." In other words, the solar wind is made up of negative electrons and positive ions.

Three years later, in 1919, Frederick Lindemann also suggested that particles of both charges, protons and electrons, come from the Sun.

In the 1930s, scientists determined that the temperature of the solar corona should reach a million degrees, since the corona remains bright enough at a great distance from the Sun, which is clearly visible during solar eclipses. Later spectroscopic observations confirmed this conclusion. In the mid-1950s, British mathematician and astronomer Sidney Chapman determined the properties of gases at these temperatures. It turned out that gas becomes an excellent conductor of heat and must dissipate it into space beyond the Earth's orbit. At the same time, German scientist Ludwig Biermann became interested in the fact that comet tails are always directed away from the Sun. Biermann postulated that the sun emits a constant stream of particles that pressurize the gas surrounding the comet, forming a long tail.

In 1955, Soviet astrophysicists S.K. Vsekhsvyatsky, G.M. Nikolsky, E.A.Ponomarev and V.I. energy sources. In all other cases, there must be a flow of matter and energy. This process serves as the physical basis for an important phenomenon - the "dynamic crown". The magnitude of the matter flux was estimated from the following considerations: if the corona were in hydrostatic equilibrium, then the heights of a homogeneous atmosphere for hydrogen and iron would be 56/1, that is, no iron ions should be observed in the far corona. But this is not the case. Iron glows throughout the corona, with FeXIV observed in higher layers than FeX, although the kinetic temperature is lower there. The force that keeps the ions in a "suspended" state can be the momentum transmitted by collisions of an ascending proton flux to iron ions. From the condition of the balance of these forces, it is easy to find the flux of protons. It turned out to be the same as that followed from the hydrodynamic theory, which was later confirmed by direct measurements. For 1955, this was a significant achievement, but no one believed in the "dynamic crown" at that time.

Three years later, Eugene Parker concluded that the hot current from the Sun in Chapman's model and the stream of particles blowing off cometary tails in Biermann's hypothesis are two manifestations of the same phenomenon, which he called "Solar wind"... Parker showed that even though the solar corona is strongly attracted by the sun, it conducts heat so well that it remains hot over a great distance. Since its attraction weakens with distance from the Sun, a supersonic outflow of matter into interplanetary space begins from the upper corona. Moreover, Parker was the first to point out that the effect of gravity weakening has the same effect on the hydrodynamic flow as the Laval nozzle: it produces a transition of the flow from the subsonic to the supersonic phase.

Parker's theory has been heavily criticized. An article sent in 1958 to the Astrophysical Journal was rejected by two reviewers and it was only thanks to the editor, Subramanian Chandrasekhar, that it made it onto the pages of the magazine.

However, in January 1959, the first direct measurements of the solar wind characteristics (Konstantin Gringauz, IKI RAS) were carried out by the Soviet Luna-1, using a scintillation counter and a gas ionization detector installed on it. Three years later, the same measurements were carried out by the American Marcia Neugebauer using data from the Mariner-2 station.

Yet the acceleration of the wind to high speeds was not yet understood and could not be explained from Parker's theory. The first numerical models of the solar wind in the corona using the equations of magnetohydrodynamics were created by Pnevman and Knopp in 1971.

In the late 1990s, using the Ultraviolet Coronal Spectrometer ( Ultraviolet Coronal Spectrometer (UVCS) ) on board were carried out observations of the regions of occurrence of a fast solar wind at the solar poles. It turned out that the wind acceleration is much greater than it was assumed based on purely thermodynamic expansion. Parker's model predicted that the wind speed becomes supersonic at an altitude of 4 solar radii from the photosphere, and observations have shown that this transition occurs significantly lower, at about 1 solar radius, confirming that there is an additional mechanism for accelerating the solar wind.

Characteristics

The heliospheric current sheet is the result of the influence of the rotating magnetic field of the Sun on plasma in the solar wind.

Because of the solar wind, the Sun loses about one million tons of matter every second. The solar wind is composed primarily of electrons, protons, and helium nuclei (alpha particles); nuclei of other elements and non-ionized particles (electrically neutral) are contained in very small quantities.

Although the solar wind comes from the outer layer of the Sun, it does not reflect the real composition of elements in this layer, since as a result of differentiation processes, the content of some elements increases and some decreases (FIP effect).

The intensity of the solar wind depends on changes in solar activity and its sources. Long-term observations in the Earth's orbit (about 150 million km from the Sun) have shown that the solar wind is structured and is usually divided into calm and disturbed (sporadic and recurrent). Calm flows, depending on the speed, are divided into two classes: slow(approximately 300-500 km / s near the Earth's orbit) and fast(500-800 km / s near the Earth's orbit). Sometimes the stationary wind refers to the region of the heliospheric current sheet, which separates the regions of different polarity of the interplanetary magnetic field, and by its characteristics is close to the slow wind.

Slow solar wind

The slow solar wind is generated by the “calm” part of the solar corona (the region of coronal streamers) during its gasdynamic expansion: at a corona temperature of about 2 · 10 6 K, the corona cannot be in hydrostatic equilibrium, and this expansion under the existing boundary conditions should lead to acceleration of the coronal substances to supersonic speeds. The heating of the solar corona to such temperatures occurs due to the convective nature of heat transfer in the solar photosphere: the development of convective turbulence in the plasma is accompanied by the generation of intense magnetosonic waves; in turn, when propagating in the direction of decreasing density of the solar atmosphere, sound waves are transformed into shock waves; shock waves are effectively absorbed by the corona material and heat it up to a temperature of (1-3) 10 6 K.

Fast solar wind

The streams of a recurrent fast solar wind are emitted by the Sun for several months and have a recurrence period for observations from the Earth of 27 days (the period of the Sun's rotation). These streams are associated with coronal holes - regions of the corona with a relatively low temperature (about 0.8 · 10 6 K), a reduced plasma density (only a quarter of the density of quiet regions of the corona) and a magnetic field radial to the Sun.

Disturbed flows

Perturbed flows include the interplanetary manifestation of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), as well as compression regions in front of fast CMEs (called Sheath in the English literature) and before fast flows from coronal holes (called Corotating interaction regions - CIRs in the English literature). About half of the Sheath and CIR observations may have an interplanetary shock wave ahead of them. It is in disturbed types of solar wind that the interplanetary magnetic field can deviate from the ecliptic plane and contain the southern component of the field, which leads to many effects of space weather (geomagnetic activity, including magnetic storms). It was previously assumed that the disturbed sporadic streams are caused by solar flares, but it is now believed that the sporadic streams in the solar wind are due to coronal ejections. At the same time, it should be noted that both solar flares and coronal ejections are associated with the same energy sources on the Sun and there is a statistical relationship between them.

According to the observation time of various large-scale types of the solar wind, fast and slow fluxes are about 53%, the heliospheric current sheet is 6%, CIR is 10%, CME is 22%, Sheath is 9%, and the ratio between the observation times of different types varies greatly in the solar cycle. activity.

Phenomena generated by the solar wind

Due to the high conductivity of the solar wind plasma, the magnetic field of the Sun is frozen into the outflowing wind flows and is observed in the interplanetary medium in the form of an interplanetary magnetic field.

The solar wind forms the border of the heliosphere, thereby preventing penetration into. The magnetic field of the solar wind significantly attenuates galactic cosmic rays coming from outside. A local increase in the interplanetary magnetic field leads to short-term decreases in cosmic rays, Forbush decreases, and large-scale decreases in the field lead to their long-term increases. So in 2009, during the period of the protracted minimum of solar activity, the intensity of radiation near the Earth increased by 19% relative to all previously observed maximums.

The solar wind generates on the solar system, possessing a magnetic field, such phenomena as the magnetosphere, auroras and the radiation belts of the planets.

It can reach values ​​up to 1.1 million degrees Celsius. Therefore, having this temperature, the particles move very quickly. The sun's gravity cannot hold them - and they leave the star.

The activity of the Sun changes over an 11-year cycle. In this case, the number of sunspots, radiation levels and the mass of material ejected into space change. And these changes affect the properties of the solar wind - its magnetic field, speed, temperature and density. Therefore, the solar wind can have different characteristics. They depend on where exactly its source was on the Sun. And they also depend on how fast the area rotated.

The speed of the solar wind is higher than the speed of movement of matter in coronal holes. And it reaches 800 kilometers per second. These holes appear at the poles of the Sun and at its low latitudes. They acquire their largest dimensions during those periods when activity on the Sun is minimal. The temperatures of matter carried by the solar wind can reach 800,000 C.

In the coronal streamer belt located around the equator, the solar wind moves more slowly - about 300 km. per second. It was found that the temperature of matter moving in a slow solar wind reaches 1.6 million C.

The sun and its atmosphere are composed of plasma and a mixture of positively and negatively charged particles. They have extremely high temperatures. Therefore, matter constantly leaves the Sun, carried away by the solar wind.

Impact on Earth

When the solar wind leaves the Sun, it carries charged particles and magnetic fields. Particles of the solar wind emitted in all directions constantly affect our planet. This process has interesting effects.

If material carried by the solar wind reaches the surface of the planet, it will cause serious damage to any life form that exists on. Therefore, the Earth's magnetic field serves as a shield, redirecting the trajectories of solar particles around the planet. The charged particles, as it were, "drain" outside of it. The impact of the solar wind changes the Earth's magnetic field in such a way that it deforms and stretches on the night side of our planet.

Occasionally, the Sun throws out large volumes of plasma known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), or solar storms. This occurs most often during the active period of the solar cycle, known as solar maximum. CMEs have a stronger effect than standard solar wind.

Some bodies in the solar system, like the Earth, are shielded by a magnetic field. But many of them have no such protection. The satellite of our Earth has no protection for its surface. Therefore, it experiences the maximum impact of the solar wind. Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, has a magnetic field. It protects the planet from normal standard winds, but it is unable to withstand more powerful flares like CME.

When high- and low-velocity streams of solar wind interact with each other, they create dense regions known as rotating interaction regions (CIRs). It is these areas that cause geomagnetic storms when they collide with the earth's atmosphere.

The solar wind and the charged particles it carries can affect Earth satellites and Global Positioning Systems (GPS). Powerful surges can damage satellites or cause position errors when using GPS signals tens of meters away.

The solar wind reaches all planets in. NASA's New Horizons mission discovered it while traveling between and.

Study of the solar wind

Scientists have known about the existence of the solar wind since the 1950s. But despite its severe impact on Earth and astronauts, scientists still do not know many of its characteristics. Several space missions in recent decades have tried to explain this mystery.

Launched into space on October 6, 1990, NASA's Ulysses mission studied the sun at different latitudes. She has measured various properties of the solar wind for more than ten years.

The Advanced Composition Explorer () mission had an orbit associated with one of the special points located between the Earth and the Sun. It is known as the Lagrange point. In this area, the gravitational forces from the Sun and the Earth have the same value. And this allows the satellite to have a stable orbit. Started in 1997, the ACE experiment studies the solar wind and provides real-time measurements of constant particle flux.

NASA's STEREO-A and STEREO-B spacecraft study the edges of the Sun from different angles to see how the solar wind is born. According to NASA, STEREO has presented "a unique and revolutionary view of the Earth-Sun system."

New missions

NASA plans to launch a new mission to study the sun. It gives scientists hope to learn more about the nature of the sun and solar wind. NASA Parker Solar Probe, scheduled for launch ( successfully launched 12.08.2018 - Navigator) in the summer of 2018, will work in such a way as to literally “touch the sun”. After several years of flight in an orbit close to our star, the probe will plunge into the Sun's corona for the first time in history. This will be done in order to get a combination of fantastic images and measurements. The experiment will advance our understanding of the nature of the solar corona, and improve our understanding of the origin and evolution of the solar wind.

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