Description

The closest star to the Earth, the Sun, is a large ball of ionized gas called plasma. The Sun has intense variable magnetic fields which are the drivers of most solar mag-netic activity. An overview of the solar magnetic field, its most important properties, along with a description of the solar wind and solar transient events are presented in this chapter. The solar wind represents the medium by which the Sun extends its atmosphere swiftly into the vastness of the solar system. The solar wind in change carves out a region of interstellar space, several times the orbit of the most distant planet in dimension, known as the heliosphere. The heliosphere is the region of space that is dominated by the solar magnetic field, which is drawn out into space by the solar wind, its a bubble in the space. Solar maximum and solar minimum are phases through which, the Sun's magnetic field has been found to flip roughly every 11 years.