The corona is the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere where strong magnetic fields bind plasma and prevent turbulent solar winds from escaping.
- The Alfven point is when solar winds exceed a critical speed and can break free of the corona and the Sun’s magnetic fields.
- The point is named for Hannes Alfvén, the Swedish physicist who first characterized the waves that bounce around below the point.
- Actually, the “Alfvén Point” is the point where the magnetic and kinetic energy of the plasma are equal. This is not a point, of course, but a surface or layer.
