The Sun has a very large and very complex magnetic field. The magnetic field at an average place on the Sun is around 1 Gauss, about twice as strong as the average field on the surface of Earth (around 0.5 Gauss). Since the Sun's surface is more than 12,000 times larger than Earth's, the overall influence of the Sun's magnetic field is vast. The magnetic field of the Sun actually extends far out into space, beyond the furthest planet (Pluto). This distant extension of the Sun's magnetic field is called the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF). The solar wind, the stream of charged particles th

Question

The Sun has a very large and very complex magnetic field. The magnetic field at an average place on the Sun is around 1 Gauss, about twice as strong as the average field on the surface of Earth (around 0.5 Gauss). Since the Sun's surface is more than 12,000 times larger than Earth's, the overall influence of the Sun's magnetic field is vast.  The magnetic field of the Sun actually extends far out into space, beyond the furthest planet (Pluto). This distant extension of the Sun's magnetic field is called the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF). The solar wind, the stream of charged particles th