Interplanetary magnetic field

[5] The dynamic pressure of the wind dominates over the magnetic pressure through most of the Solar System (or heliosphere), so that the magnetic field is pulled into an Archimedean spiral pattern (the Parker spiral[6]) by the combination of the outward motion and the Sun's rotation.

The plasma in the interplanetary medium is also responsible for the strength of the Sun's magnetic field at the orbit of the Earth being over 100 times greater than originally anticipated.

[citation needed] Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory predicts that the motion of a conducting fluid (e.g., the interplanetary medium) in a magnetic field induces electric currents, which in turn generates magnetic fields — and, in this respect, it behaves like an MHD dynamo.

[citation needed] The interplanetary magnetic field at the Earth's orbit varies with waves and other disturbances in the solar wind, known as "space weather."

[7] Since 1997, the solar magnetic field has been monitored in real time by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite located in a halo orbit at the Sun–Earth Lagrange Point L1; since July 2016, it has been monitored by the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite, also at the Sun–Earth L1 (with the ACE continuing to serve as a back-up measurement).