Abstract
IN order to account for the observed motions of comet tails, Biermann1 conceived that the solar corona emits suprathermal particles at the rate of 1014–1015 gm./sec. Since this material is evidently supplied by the Sun itself, this seems to imply that Unno's observation2 of turbulent motions in the chromosphere and lower corona corresponds in reality to a systematic radial emission of particles from the Sun, the velocity v of which is related to the hydrogen ion concentration n by the relation v = Bn −1/4, where B = 8 × 108 (cm.)1/4 sec.−1. This empirical relation is of the same form as Parker's magneto-hydrodynamical velocity-amplitude relation3,4, v(r) = v 0(n o/n r)1/4, the applicability of which is certainly not restricted to the chromosphere. Thus the possibility of extrapolating Unno's result to interplanetary space deserves further consideration.
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References
Biermann, Observatory, 77, 109 (1957).
Unno, Astrophys. J., 129, 388 (1959).
Parker, Phys. Rev., 99, 248 (1955).
Parker, Astrophys. J., 128, 681 (1958).
Cole, Nature, 188, 874 (1960).
Allen, Astrophysical Quantities, 106 (Athlone Press, 1955).
Severnyi, Astron. Zh., 34328 (1957) (in Russian). See also Phys. Abstr., 4666 (1958).
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DE TURVILLE, C. Terrestrial Accretion from the Solar Wind. Nature 190, 156 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/190156a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/190156a0
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