Sun-Earth connection

solar wind

how fast is the solar wind flowing?

shockwaves in the solar wind

a turbulent journey

there's almost nothing there!

the termination shock

a turbulent journey

Turbulence follows in the wake of a shockwave. Here is a picture of a sphere moving at supersonic speed through a fluid. The thick black line is the shockwave front. Notice how turbulence forms behind the sphere in this picture.

When water flows in a stream, any obstacle will disturb the flow and create turbulence. In the solar wind the shockwaves create turbulence in a similar way. In particular, giant whirlpools of solar-wind plasma are sometimes created and that is the kind of effect I like to study.

From an Album of Fluid Motion assembled by Milton Van Dyke

Whirlpool




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