What Is the Solar Wind Composed of?

With its unimaginable heat, inconceivable distance and utter connectivity to human existence, the sun is naturally a point of serious interest for many scientists, scholars and lay people. As you may suppose, the sun is the site of a great deal of activity at all times. During peak periods of solar activity, observers notice the highest levels of solar wind, a phenomenon which can have a direct impact on the sun's satellite, the planet Earth.

Primary Features

• Solar wind is primarily composed of what are known as subatomic particles. Namely, these include protons, electrons and neutrons, although neutrons are less common than the other two. Both electrons and protons have a specific charge; protons are positively charged and electrons negatively. When these particles are combined in the form of solar wind, the result is a plasma-like substance that approaches one million degrees Celsius and and travels at 900 kilometers every second.

Mass

• The wind blows constantly from the surface of the sun. As it does so, the wind amasses more and more protons, electrons and ions along the way. As the wind draws more materials from the sun, the sun continuously loses mass, at the rate of nearly one million tons per second. This loss, however, is of little consequence to the remaining mass of the sun, which is estimated to be 1.989 to the thirtieth power

Coronal Holes

• The chief source of solar wind is coronal holes. These holes are primarily at the sun's respective poles where the solar wind is allowed to escape. The wind itself is created through the solar corona and its constituent high temperature. If you were to imagine the layer of the sun that you could visibly see if a sustained gaze were possible, it would be the corona that you see. This outer layer or skin of the sun is the pressure formed by the solar wind that causes comets to lose their pull to larger bodies of comets and to depart on their own trajectory.

The Earth

• During times when the sun is highly active, the potential influence solar wind can have on the Earth increases. According to experts at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville, the two sites most affected by enhanced solar winds are the ionosphere and the Earth's magnetic field. This can have a tangible effect on the performance or operations of telecommunications systems around the globe. There is speculation that it was this form of solar wind activity that caused the 1997 demise of the Telstar 401 satellite.