The space high above Earth may seem empty, but it's a carnival packed with magnetic field lines and high-energy particles. This region is known as the magnetosphere and, every day, charged particles put on a show as they ...
Space Exploration
Jan 3, 2018
4
297
Plasmas, gas-like collections of ions and electrons, make up an estimated 99 percent of the visible matter in the universe, including the sun, the stars, and the gaseous medium that permeates the space in between. Most of ...
Plasma Physics
Dec 1, 2017
8
307
Lasers that generate plasma can provide insight into bursts of subatomic particles that occur in deep space, scientists have found. Such findings could help scientists understand cosmic rays, solar flares and solar eruptions—emissions ...
Plasma Physics
Nov 10, 2017
21
13
Mars has an invisible magnetic "tail" that is twisted by interaction with the solar wind, according to new research using data from NASA's MAVEN spacecraft.
Space Exploration
Oct 20, 2017
3
571
In July 2012, a powerful solar storm almost struck Earth. Scientists estimate that had the storm, called a coronal mass ejection (CME), hit the planet, the impact would have crippled power grids worldwide, burning out transformers ...
Plasma Physics
Oct 12, 2017
38
23
On Sept. 30, 2014, multiple NASA observatories watched what appeared to be the beginnings of a solar eruption. A filament—a serpentine structure consisting of dense solar material and often associated with solar eruptions—rose ...
Space Exploration
Aug 11, 2017
11
1940
You can't see them, but swarms of electrons are buzzing through the magnetic environment—the magnetosphere—around Earth. The electrons spiral and dive around the planet in a complex dance dictated by the magnetic and ...
Space Exploration
May 18, 2017
0
858
Every day, with little notice, the Earth is bombarded by energetic particles that shower its inhabitants in an invisible dusting of radiation, observed only by the random detector, or astronomer, or physicist duly noting ...
Plasma Physics
May 16, 2017
0
24
Magnetic reconnection, a universal process that triggers solar flares and northern lights and can disrupt cell phone service and fusion experiments, occurs much faster than theory says that it should. Now researchers at the ...
Plasma Physics
Mar 31, 2017
51
808
Every day, invisible magnetic explosions are happening around Earth, on the surface of the sun and across the universe. These explosions, known as magnetic reconnection, occur when magnetic field lines cross, releasing stored ...
Space Exploration
Mar 9, 2017
0
12
