Solar winds triggered by magnetic fields

Solar wind generated by the sun is probably driven by a process involving powerful magnetic fields, according to a new study led by UCL researchers based on the latest observations from the Hinode satellite. Scientists have long speculated on the source of solar winds. The Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS), on board the Japanese-UK-US Hinode satellite, is now generating unprecedented observations enabling scientists to provide a new perspective on the 50-year old question of how solar wind is driven. The collaborative study, published in this month?s issue of , suggests that a process called slipping reconnection may drive these winds. Deb Baker, lead author from UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory, says: ?Solar wind is an outflow of million-degree gas and magnetic field that engulfs the Earth and other planets. It fills the entire solar system and links with the magnetic fields of the Earth and other planets. Changes in the Sun?s million-mile-per-hour wind can induce disturbances within near-Earth space and our upper atmosphere and yet we still don?t know what drives these outflows." ?However, our latest study suggests that it is the release of energy stored in solar magnetic fields which provides the additional driver for the solar wind.