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.
The sun continuously blasts charged, magnetic field-carrying particles, or plasma, in all directions. This solar wind interacts with the magnetic fields and atmospheres of several of our solar system's planets and other bodies, ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 20, 2026
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Our planet rests inside a magnetic cocoon filled with plasma—but it's not always peaceful and quiet. Activity from the sun can send waves through this space, and some of those disturbances can even reach Earth, affecting ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 17, 2026
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University of Birmingham experts have created open-source computer software that helps scientists understand how fast-moving particles behave when they interact with electromagnetic waves in space. Understanding how these ...
Space Exploration
Apr 16, 2026
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Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics scientists have been able to disentangle the X-ray glow originating in our solar system from similar emission reaching us from deep space, using data from the SRG/eROSITA ...
Astronomy
Apr 16, 2026
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Since July 2025, the European Space Agency's pair of Proba-3 satellites has already created 57 artificial solar eclipses. So far, the mission has collected more than 250 hours of high-resolution videos of the sun's atmosphere, ...
Astronomy
Apr 13, 2026
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After successfully completing their mission to the moon, the Artemis II crew are about to return to Earth.
Space Exploration
Apr 9, 2026
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The early universe is absolutely so far outside our understanding of how the world works it's hard to describe in words. Back then, the cosmos wasn't filled with stars and galaxies but with a boiling soup of quarks and gluons, ...
Astronomy
Apr 5, 2026
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Saturn's magnetic shield is asymmetrical compared to Earth's, suggests a new study involving University College London (UCL) researchers, and this is likely a result of its fast rotation coupled with the heavy material it ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 1, 2026
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A Southwest Research Institute-led study found that protons and heavy ions react differently to solar magnetic reconnection events, revealing a more complex magnetic engine powering the solar wind. Magnetic reconnection converts ...
Astronomy
Mar 31, 2026
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The sun, our nearest star, never stops breathing. Every second of every day, it exhales a vast stream of charged particles that sweeps outward through the solar system at hundreds of kilometers per second. We call it the ...
Astronomy
Mar 30, 2026
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