Space and astrophysical plasma as a physical system refers to ionized gases permeating cosmic environments such as the interstellar and intergalactic medium, stellar winds, accretion disks, and magnetospheres. These plasmas are typically low-collisionality, often magnetized, and governed by collective electromagnetic interactions described by magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), kinetic theory, or hybrid models. Key properties include Debye shielding, anisotropic pressure, and nonthermal particle distributions, with dynamics dominated by magnetic reconnection, turbulence, waves, and instabilities. Space and astrophysical plasmas are central to energy and momentum transport, cosmic ray acceleration, and radiation processes across a vast range of spatial and temporal scales.
Mission engineers at NASA have turned off the plasma science instrument aboard the Voyager 2 spacecraft due to the probe's gradually shrinking electrical power supply.
Planetary Sciences
Oct 2, 2024
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130
Solar wind is a never-ending stream of charged particles coming from the sun. Rather than a constant breeze, this wind is rather gusty. As solar wind particles travel through space, they interact with the sun's variable magnetic ...
Astronomy
Sep 26, 2024
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92
Whether between galaxies or within doughnut-shaped fusion devices known as tokamaks, the electrically charged fourth state of matter known as plasma regularly encounters powerful magnetic fields, changing shape and sloshing ...
Plasma Physics
Aug 27, 2024
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169
In an ongoing game of cosmic hide and seek, scientists have a new tool that may give them an edge. Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have developed a computer program ...
Plasma Physics
Jul 2, 2024
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620
An international team of scientists has developed a novel way to experimentally produce plasma 'fireballs' on Earth.
Plasma Physics
Jun 13, 2024
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760
Artificially intelligent software has been developed to enhance medical treatments that use jets of electrified gas known as plasma. The computer code predicts the chemicals emitted by plasma devices, which can be used to ...
Plasma Physics
Feb 6, 2024
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152
