Sun Spots

Irradiance

Solar Wind

Solar Magnetic Mean Field

 
         
 
 
 

The Solar Wind consists of particles from the Sun travelling through the solar system. The particles originate in the solar atmosphere and are accelerated to velocities of several hundred kilometers per second. They maintain this velocity through the solar system while their density gradually decreases the further they move away from the sun.
The solar wind is divided into two different forms: The fast and the slow solar wind. The fast solar wind originates in so called coronal holes and causes recurrent structures in the data with a frequency corresponding to the 27 day rotation period of the sun.
The solar wind causes a magnetic field. It’s orientation is measured relative to magnetic field of the Earth and determines how much the Earth is affected by the solar wind.
The data used in this project are speed and proton density of the solar wind along with the magnitude and orientation of the magnetic field. The data consist of daily averages of the solar wind parameters measured by various spacecrafts near the earths orbit. The data were provided by the National Space Science Data Center through the OMNIWeb database.


Visualization:
The images depict the four measured values mentioned above. The Orientation relative to the magnetic field of the earth is shown in the angle of all vertical lines. The strength of the magnetic field corresponds to their length. The width of the inner ribbon is the velocity of the protons and the distances between the 10 lines describe the density of the proton flow. The colours are changed to grey if the measurements had to be interpolated. An interpolated angle is indicated by a point in the centre.


Sonification:
The strength of the magnetic field controls a double bass that can be heard from behind the projection of the solar wind. A cello is controlled by the density of the proton flow. Its velocity is played by a violin. Both cross the room in a quadrophonic setup. The sounds mentioned above are modulated in pitch and volume. The sound of the violin is modified by granular synthesis and is spatialized by the orientation of the magnetic field measurement.