Beyond Earth's atmosphere are swirling clouds of energized particles—ions and electrons—that emanate from the sun. This "solar wind" buffets the magnetosphere, the magnetic force field that surrounds Earth.
General Physics
Jan 14, 2020
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777
Just weeks before the historic encounter of comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) with Mars in October 2014, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft entered orbit around the Red Planet. To protect sensitive ...
Space Exploration
Mar 10, 2016
441
1849
The Earth's magnetic field, or magnetosphere, stretches from the planet's core out into space, where it meets the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emitted by the sun. For the most part, the magnetosphere acts as ...
Space Exploration
Mar 6, 2014
24
4
(Phys.org) —In a 3-meter diameter hollow aluminum sphere, Cary Forest, a UW-Madison physics professor, is stirring and heating plasmas to 500,000 degrees Fahrenheit to experimentally mimic the magnetic field-inducing cosmic ...
Space Exploration
Oct 17, 2013
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0
(Phys.org) —Solar storms—powerful eruptions of solar material and magnetic fields into interplanetary space—can cause what is known as "space weather" near Earth, resulting in hazards that range from interference with ...
Space Exploration
Sep 26, 2013
2
85
George Mason University scientists discovered recently that a phenomenon called a giant magnetic rope is the cause of solar storms. Confirming the existence of this formation is a key first step in helping to mitigate the ...
Space Exploration
Jun 15, 2011
23
0
Take a bunch of fast-moving electrons, place them in orbit and then hit them with the shock waves from a solar storm. What do you get? Killer electrons. That's the shocking recipe revealed by ESA's Cluster mission.
Space Exploration
Mar 11, 2010
9
0
Scientists at the University of Rochester have discovered that the Earth's magnetic field 3.5 billion years ago was only half as strong as it is today, and that this weakness, coupled with a strong wind of energetic particles ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 4, 2010
3
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton has broken new ground in outer space by pinpointing the impact epicentre of an Earthbound space storm as it crashes into the atmosphere and giving ...
Space Exploration
May 27, 2009
0
0
While many studies have compared the magnetic properties of confined and eruptive solar flares, few have considered the thermodynamic properties of confined flares and even fewer in comparison to eruptive ones.
Astronomy
Feb 21, 2024
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