Solar Wind and Solar Flare
Most of the Sun's family is continually bathed in an outflow of material from the Sun's atmosphere. Streams of electrons and protons continuously flow out from the Sun's atmosphere and travel across the Solar System. This rapidly moving stream of charged particles is called the solar wind. About one million ton material is removed every second from the Sun in the form of the solar wind. These charged particles react with the atoms of the Earth's atmosphere to produce northern lights, 'aurora borealis' at the North Pole and southern lights, 'aurora australis' at the South pole: This display of lights in nature, is truly spectacular. The solar flare represents the most dynamic activity associated with the Sun's surface and atmosphere. It represents a tremendous release of energy in a very short time. Usually it occurs in the neighbourhood of a sunspot. There is a sudden brightening accompanied by a violent outflow of e'nergy in the form of light, radiowaves, X-rays and solar material like electrons and protons. The Sun is our nearest star and we have been able to examine it quite closely. We have just presented2ome salient features of the Sun's structure and its activity.