The Solar Wind
A Quick Look at Current Cycle 24 Conditions
(Data rounded to nearest whole number)
Sunspots:
Observed Monthly, November 2019: 0
12-month smoothed, May 2019: 2
10.7-cm Flux:
Observed Monthly, November 2019: 70
12-month smoothed, May 2019: 70
Ap Index:
Observed Monthly, November 2019: 4
12-month smoothed, May 2019: 7
One Year Ago: A Quick Look at Solar Cycle Conditions
(Data rounded to nearest whole number)
Sunspots:
Observed Monthly, November 2018: 4
12-month smoothed, May 2018: 5
10.7-cm Flux:
Observed Monthly, November 2018: 69
12-month smoothed, May 2018: 70
Ap Index:
Observed Monthly, November 2018: 6
12-month smoothed, May 2018: 8
The Sun, and each planet in our solar system, has a magnetic structure. The Earth has a north pole and a south pole. Magnetic field lines run from pole to pole, forming a donut shape of magnetic flux energy. The Sun has a magnetic structure, as well. It can become quite complex, with several intertwined poles. The Sun even reverses its northern and southern poles each solar cycle.
The Sun’s magnetic field permeates the entire solar system, and beyond. This region that stretches from the Sun outward past the end of the solar system is called the helios phere. The magnetic field that originates in the Sun and stretches out through the heliosphere is called the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The IMF interacts with the Earth and is primarily the cause of space weather.
The IMF sprawls out away from the Sun in the form of a huge “current sheet,” a vast expanding surface where complex magnetic field lines run from one solar pole far out into the solar system, arcing back again along this sheet to return to the sun’s other pole.
We have spacecraft) which provides a way to observe the polarity at the spacecraft. The IMF magnetic field lines have polarities that change from north (seen as a positive B) to south (indicated by a negative B).
