1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,700
[ MUSIC ]

2
00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:14,000
Effects of the Solar Wind – Presented by Science@NASA

3
00:00:14,020 --> 00:00:23,780
The wind speed of a devastating Category 5 hurricane can top over 150 miles per hour (241km/hour.)

4
00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:34,340
Now imagine another kind of wind with an average speed of 0.87 million miles per hour (1.4 million km/hour.)

5
00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:38,180
Welcome to the wind that begins in our Sun and doesn’t stop until after it reaches

6
00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:42,370
the edge of the heliosphere: the solar wind.

7
00:00:42,390 --> 00:00:48,690
The corona is the Sun’s inner atmosphere – the brightness that can be seen surrounding an eclipsed Sun -

8
00:00:48,710 --> 00:00:52,810
and home to the continually expanding solar wind.

9
00:00:52,830 --> 00:00:58,140
Right now, the Parker Solar Probe - a NASA mission launched in 2018, is orbiting the Sun

10
00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:06,080
and will get as close as 3.83 million miles (6.16 million km) of the Sun’s surface.

11
00:01:06,100 --> 00:01:12,320
Parker is gathering new data about the solar particles and magnetic fields that comprise the solar wind.

12
00:01:12,340 --> 00:01:19,920
More specifically, two of its main goals are to examine the energy that heats the corona and speeds up the solar wind,

13
00:01:19,940 --> 00:01:23,210
and determine the structure of the wind’s magnetic fields.

14
00:01:23,230 --> 00:01:28,780
While many theories describe the solar wind’s history, this is what we do know: 

15
00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:33,900
The solar wind impacting Earth’s magnetosphere is responsible for triggering

16
00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:38,960
those majestic auroras typically seen at locations close to our north and south poles.

17
00:01:38,980 --> 00:01:45,530
In some cases it can also set off space weather storms that disrupt everything from our satellites in space,

18
00:01:45,550 --> 00:01:49,940
to ship communications on our oceans, to power grids on land.

19
00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:55,060
Nicky Fox is the division director for heliophysics at NASA Headquarters.

20
00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:59,680
She explains in more detail how the solar wind disrupts our magnetosphere: 

21
00:01:59,700 --> 00:02:04,010
“As the wind flows toward Earth, it carries with it the Sun’s magnetic field.

22
00:02:04,030 --> 00:02:08,690
It moves very fast, then smacks right into Earth’s magnetic field.

23
00:02:08,710 --> 00:02:14,310
The blow causes a shock to our magnetic protection, which can result in turbulence.”

24
00:02:14,330 --> 00:02:20,140
NASA also has another reason to study the solar wind and its properties –

25
00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:25,670
the solar wind is part of a larger space weather system that can affect astronauts and technology.

26
00:02:25,690 --> 00:02:32,280
As Fox notes: “We not only have to ensure our astronauts are protected from the harmful effects of radiation.

27
00:02:32,300 --> 00:02:37,640
We have to protect our equipment too. So, we’ve already found aluminum to be a good shield

28
00:02:37,660 --> 00:02:40,720
to protect our crafts from many energetic particles.

29
00:02:40,740 --> 00:02:45,990
But there are also faster particles that travel at 80% of the speed of light,

30
00:02:46,010 --> 00:02:48,770
which can cause havoc with parts of a spacecraft.

31
00:02:48,790 --> 00:02:55,900
They can smash into and damage solar panels, disrupt electronics, or affect electric currents that flow along power grids.

32
00:02:55,920 --> 00:02:59,850
So, we’re currently conducting tests with small pieces of technology

33
00:02:59,870 --> 00:03:03,590
to study how well they can survive in intense radiation areas.”

34
00:03:03,610 --> 00:03:09,470
Knowing more about the effects of the solar wind is not only important to those of us who live on Earth.

35
00:03:09,490 --> 00:03:11,840
It will be critical to know how to mitigate its effects

36
00:03:11,860 --> 00:03:17,300
once our astronauts travel back to the Moon and beyond for extended periods of time.

37
00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:23,790
Fox concludes: “My feeling is -- if the Sun sneezes, Earth catches a cold,

38
00:03:23,810 --> 00:03:28,630
because we always feel the impact of what happens on the Sun thanks to the solar wind.”

39
00:03:28,650 --> 00:03:44,982
Get blown away by the science behind the solar wind at science.nasa.gov.