#magnetosphere

Magnetosphere, an allegory 30 x 24 in, Oil on panel, 2021, homage to Fumée D'Ambre Gris by John Singer Sargent.

In addition to the warmth and light we receive daily, our sun expels a constant barrage of dangerous charged particles called the solar wind. When solar storms occur, flares and coronal mass ejections can be thrown our way at speeds of millions of kilometers per hour. Luckily, movements within earths molten metal core generate a protective magnetic shield around our home planet. Without our magnetosphere to protect us, the solar wind may have long ago stripped away our atmosphere, leaving Earth looking much more like Mars looks today: barren, dry, and lifeless.

Human wellbeing has been shown to benefit greatly from the experience and practice of gratitude, whether that gratitude is directed toward someone else or not. Most of us don’t spend much time thinking about our magnetosphere, but it’s one of the many extraordinary things that make life possible on our little world. This can serve as a reminder to take notice of other things we may be taking for granted in our lives.

Skoltech scientists and their Chinese colleagues have determined the conditions that enable the existence of a very peculiar ion. Dubbed aquodiium, it can be conceptualized as an ordinary neutral molecule of water with two additional protons stuck to it, resulting in a net double positive charge. The team suggests that the ion could be stable in the interior of the ice giants Uranus and Neptune, and if so, it must play a part in the mechanism that gives rise to these planets' unusual magnetic fields. The study is published in Physical Review B

While comets and even Mercury show visible glowing tails, Earth’s version is shaped by its magnetic field and the constant push of solar wind.

This magnetotail carries trapped plasma far into space, forming a teardrop-like extension behind our planet. Researchers say its exact length may reach up to 1,000 Earth radii, making it one of Earth’s most astonishing hidden features.

"Two University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists have discovered a new type of "whistler," an electromagnetic wave that carries a substantial amount of lightning energy to the Earth's magnetosphere. The research is published today in Science Advances."

"The wave carries lightning energy, which enters the ionosphere at low latitudes, to the magnetosphere. The energy is reflected upward by the ionosphere's lower boundary, at about 55 miles altitude, in the opposite hemisphere.

It was previously believed, the authors write, that lightning energy entering the ionosphere at low latitudes remained trapped in the ionosphere and therefore was not reaching the radiation belts. The belts are two layers of charged particles surrounding the planet and held in place by Earth's magnetic field."

"Review of plasma wave data from the Van Allen Probes showed that specularly reflected whistlers are a common magnetospheric phenomenon."