If the solar wind travels at over 1,000 times the speed of a jet engine exhaust, can it blow the Sun off course?
No. Although it has a very high speed, the mass is tiny compared to that of the Sun.
Take a look at the section on spacecraft and rockets to find out more. |
| |
|
|
|
Here's an ultraviolet image (above) of the Sun obtained by SOHO. The rectangle shows part of a coronal hole region. In the enlargement, areas coloured blue show where the material is flowing towards us. It looks as if the solar wind is shooting out from "cracks" in the solar surface!
SOHO-EIT UV image (left) showing a large coronal hole, with arrows showing the solar wind flowing out from the Sun. |
