"The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona."
Stream of charged particles that emanate from the sun and interact with the Earth's magnetosphere.
Solar Wind: The flow of charged particles released from the Sun's atmosphere into space, which impacts the Earth's magnetosphere and causes various space weather phenomena.
Magnetosphere: The region of space around the Earth where the planet's magnetic field dominates and interacts with the solar wind, deflecting and trapping charged particles in the Earth's radiation belts.
Solar Activity: The various phenomena, such as sunspots, flares, and coronal mass ejections, associated with the variability of the Sun's magnetic field that drives the solar wind.
Magnetotail: The elongated tail-like structure of the Earth's magnetosphere that extends away from the Sun, formed by the stretching and pulling of the magnetic field lines due to the asymmetry of the solar wind interaction.
Plasma Physics: The study of the behavior of ionized gases, or plasmas, which make up the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere, including their electric and magnetic properties and collective behavior.
Particle Acceleration: The process by which charged particles gain energy and velocity in the presence of electric and magnetic fields, which occurs in various regions of the magnetosphere and is responsible for the production of high-energy particles that can be hazardous to spacecraft and humans.
Space Weather: The study and prediction of the effects of solar wind and other phenomena on the near-Earth environment, including geomagnetic storms, auroras, and radiation hazards to spacecraft and astronauts.
Solar-Terrestrial Relations: The study of the complex interactions between the Sun, the solar wind, and the Earth's magnetosphere, which have important implications for climate, communications, and other aspects of human activity.
Magnetohydrodynamics: The branch of plasma physics that deals with the behavior of electrically conducting fluids, including the solar wind and the magnetosphere, as well as astrophysical plasmas in stars and galaxies.
Solar Explorer Missions: The various space missions that have been launched to study the Sun and its effects on the solar wind and the magnetosphere, including NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, Goddard Solar Terrestrial Probes, and Parker Solar Probe, as well as ESA's Solar Orbiter and Cluster missions.
Fast Solar Wind: This type of solar wind is characterized by high speeds (around 800 km/s) and low densities, and it originates from coronal holes on the Sun's surface.
Slow Solar Wind: This type of solar wind has lower speeds (around 400 km/s) and higher densities. It originates from the hot and dense areas of the corona and is associated with the closed magnetic field lines of the Sun.
Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections (ICMEs): These are large-scale disturbances in the solar wind caused by explosive events on the Sun, such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). ICMEs are characterized by magnetic clouds and shocks, which can cause geomagnetic disturbances on Earth.
Co-rotating Interaction Regions (CIRs): These are regions where fast and slow solar wind streams interact and form a discontinuity known as a heliospheric current sheet. CIRs can cause long-duration geomagnetic storms.
Sector Boundaries: These are regions where the magnetic field of the solar wind changes direction. Sector boundaries are associated with changes in the interplanetary magnetic field and can cause short-duration geomagnetic disturbances.
High- and Low-latitude Heliospheric Current Sheets: These are regions where the magnetic field of the solar wind changes polarity. The high-latitude current sheet is associated with the polar coronal hole, while the low-latitude current sheet is associated with the equatorial coronal hole.
Stream Interaction Regions (SIRs): These are regions where two streams of solar wind, with different characteristics, interact and form a compression wave. SIRs can cause geomagnetic disturbances.
Transient Solar Wind: This type of solar wind is characterized by rapid variations in the solar wind parameters, such as speed, density, and magnetic field. Transient solar wind is typically caused by coronal mass ejections and can cause geomagnetic storms.
"This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons, and alpha particles."
"The kinetic energy of the particles in the solar wind ranges between 0.5 and 10 keV."
"The composition of the solar wind plasma includes trace amounts of heavy ions and atomic nuclei of elements such as C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, and Fe."
"Superimposed with the solar-wind plasma is the interplanetary magnetic field."
"The solar wind varies in density, temperature, and speed over time and over solar latitude and longitude."
"The particles can escape the Sun's gravity because of their high energy resulting from the high temperature of the corona."
"The boundary separating the corona from the solar wind is called the Alfvén surface."
"At a distance of more than a few solar radii from the Sun, the solar wind reaches speeds of 250-750 km/s and is supersonic."
"The flow of the solar wind is no longer supersonic at the termination shock."
"Other related phenomena include the aurora (northern and southern lights), the plasma tails of comets that always point away from the Sun, and geomagnetic storms that can change the direction of magnetic field lines." (Note: The paragraph does not explicitly mention quotes for questions 5 and 11. However, the information is derived from the paragraph as a whole.)