There is a continuous flow of charged particles that escapes the Sun and fills the space between the solar system objects and even beyond, called "solar wind". A million tons of matter is leaving the Sun, every second.

Sometimes (as on 29 October and 20 November 2003) we can see, even in Armagh, its interaction with the atoms and molecules from the terrestrial atmosphere, in the form of astonishing colour displays: auroras (look at my pastel drawing of the aurora I saw in Armagh).

The solar wind has two components: 
     a fast, low-density, steady wind (500-900 km s-1) and  
     a slow, high-density, variable wind (300-400 km s-1).

We know that the fast solar wind originates from coronal holes (CHs), regions in which one magnetic polarity dominates, and the field lines are open.

To find what are the small-scale features responsible for the appearance of the fast solar wind, we need to correlate plasma motions with fine structures inside the CHs, seen from the transition  region (TR) downward.

I am therefore involved in  the search for the origins of the solar wind, as low as possible in the solar atmosphere.