The Moon
region conforms to the spiral also. This is the
interplanetary magnetic field.
Because of this spiral effect—at the distance the earth is
from the sun—the magnetic field is oriented about 45
degrees west of the earth-sun line, on the morning side
of the earth. Both the slow (4 days) and the fast (10
minutes to several hours) charged, solar particles
approach the earth guided by the solar magnetic field.
They come in from the western side of the sun (morning
side of earth) at about a 45-degree angle to the earth—
although this angle fluctuates from moment to moment
based on changes in the solar plasma. The fact is, each
of us is exposed to these particles coming from this
general direction, at around 9 AM each morning, and
most shielded from them at around 9 P.M. each night.
The great rotating disk of the solar magnetic field is itself
divided into four primary sectors, each having an
alternating polarity. The magnetic field direction is either
positive (away from the sun) or negative (toward the
sun). These sectors are ‘tied into’ definite regions on the
surface of the sun—to what are the corresponding
magnetic signs. It has been suggested that this may be
thought of as a rigid disk in the plane of the ecliptic, with
four quadrants connected to the sun, all rotating with the
sun in its 27-day rotation cycle—a co-rotating sector
structure.
It has been found that geomagnetic and cosmic ray
activity, as well as the velocity and density of the solar
wind, vary, as a function of position, within the solar
sectors; thus, there is a weekly fluctuation in the Kp-
geomagnetic index. Studies show a maximum in
thunderstorm activity when the earth passes from a
positive sector into a negative sector. These four huge
sectors are like a great pinwheel rotating past earth,