This series of animations shows a two-dimensional unstructured mesh particle-magneto-hydrodynamic solar wind flow simulation of the interaction of the solar wind with the Earths magnetosphere.

This series of animations shows a two-dimensional unstructured mesh particle-magneto-hydrodynamic solar wind flow simulation of the interaction of the solar wind with the Earths magnetosphere.

The earths magnetosphere protects the earth from high-energy charged particles coming from the sun. Some charged particles are deflected by the magnetosphere, while others become trapped and produce the aurora. This presentation shows a 3-dimensional model of the magnetosphere. The features that it highlights are flat ribbons representing the paths of charged particles deflected by the magnetosphere, triangular ribbons representing magnetic field lines, and colored surfaces representing constant values of magnetic force.

This collection of images, movies, and animations from NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) features a large selection of images of the sun and of solar phenomena. Although most of the imagery is of the sun, a few images of comets and planets as they transit the solar disk are available.

Mars possesses no significant intrinsic magnetic field. The absence of magnetic protection allows the supersonic solar wind flow to directly interact with the Martian ionosphere (an almost fully ionized region of the Mars upper atmosphere). When the velocity of the solar wind increases, the Martian ionosphere is compressed and the ionopause (a boundary layer between the ionosphere and the solar wind) is displaced to lower altitudes. The ions of planetary origin such as O+ and O2+ escape from the upper atmosphere of Mars due to solar wind induced scavenging processes. Many more planetary ions are scavenged when the solar wind velocity increases because a much larger part of the planetary atmosphere is exposed to the solar wind as the ionopause is pushed inwards towards the planetary surface. There are some indications that the solar wind flow, as well as the Suns x-ray and extreme ultraviolet radiation, were much more intense early in solar system history. It is thought that some 3.5 billion years ago, these extreme interplanetary conditions may have caused a much larger rate of water loss from the Martian atmosphere. We estimate that the solar wind scavenging pictured here under the extreme conditions in the early solar system would have caused the loss of a 10 meter global equivalent ocean layer from Mars over the last 3.5 billion years. This loss is less than one tenth of the 156 m global equivalent ocean layer estimated to have existed on early Mars using the Mars Global Surveyor observations. Arrows represent the flow of the ions of planetary origin. The colors represent the density of the Martian ionosphere, with red as high and blue as low.

This module focuses on the solar wind information obtained by NASA-s Genesis spacecraft. Genesis collects pristine solar wind material -ionic particles from the Sun- that will provide clues about the elemental composition of the original solar nebula.

Light takes hundreds of thousands of years to get from the fusion core of the Sun to its surface. See if you can do better in our solar maze.

IMAGE-HENA observes the oxygen ions, expelled from the Earths atmosphere by the solar wind, return to the polar regions via the magnetic field.

IMAGE-HENA observes the oxygen ions, expelled from the Earths atmosphere by the solar wind, return to the polar regions via the magnetic field.

Electrically charged oxygen atoms (green) are ejected into the magnetosphere due to heating in the ionosphere. The red thermometer displays the intensity of the solar wind (dynamic pressure) measured by the Geotail spacecraft. The yellow thermometer represents the source intensity or hydrogen counts as measured by IMAGE-LENA.

This document describes the features and properties of Earth's magnetosphere. Topics include the magnetosphere's shape, descriptions of its features, the Van Allen Belts, particle motions, and magnetic storms. Links to illustrations and tables are embedded on the text.

A view of a computer-generated model of the Earth's magnetosphere. Semi-transparent surfaces represent particle density (red is high, blue is low), the silvery tube represent magnetic field lines and the yellow ribbons represent the paths of charged solar wind particles. In this particular model, the solar wind has an ambient density of 8.35 particles-cm^3. The isosurfaces are then red (>17 particles-cm^3), yellow (>12 particles-cm^3), green (>8.6 particles-cm^3) and blue (<1.0 particle-cm^3).

On May 11, 1999, the solar wind that blows constantly from the Sun virtually disappeared. Dropping to a small fraction of its normal density and to half its normal speed, the solar wind died down enough to allow physicists to observe particles flowing directly from the Suns corona to Earth. This severe change in the solar wind also drastically changed the shape of Earths magnetic field and produced a rare auroral display at Earths North Pole.

On May 11, 1999, the solar wind that blows constantly from the Sun virtually disappeared. Dropping to a small fraction of its normal density and to half its normal speed, the solar wind died down enough to allow physicists to observe particles flowing directly from the Suns corona to Earth. This severe change in the solar wind also drastically changed the shape of Earths magnetic field and produced a rare auroral display at Earths North Pole.

On May 11, 1999, the solar wind that blows constantly from the Sun virtually disappeared. Dropping to a small fraction of its normal density and to half its normal speed, the solar wind died down enough to allow physicists to observe particles flowing directly from the Suns corona to Earth. This severe change in the solar wind also drastically changed the shape of Earths magnetic field and produced a rare auroral display at Earths North Pole.

On May 11, 1999, the solar wind that blows constantly from the Sun virtually disappeared. Dropping to a small fraction of its normal density and to half its normal speed, the solar wind died down enough to allow physicists to observe particles flowing directly from the Suns corona to Earth. This severe change in the solar wind also drastically changed the shape of Earths magnetic field and produced a rare auroral display at Earths North Pole.

On May 11, 1999, the solar wind that blows constantly from the Sun virtually disappeared. Dropping to a small fraction of its normal density and to half its normal speed, the solar wind died down enough to allow physicists to observe particles flowing directly from the Suns corona to Earth. This severe change in the solar wind also drastically changed the shape of Earths magnetic field and produced a rare auroral display at Earths North Pole.

On May 11, 1999, the solar wind that blows constantly from the Sun virtually disappeared. Dropping to a small fraction of its normal density and to half its normal speed, the solar wind died down enough to allow physicists to observe particles flowing directly from the Suns corona to Earth. This severe change in the solar wind also drastically changed the shape of Earths magnetic field and produced a rare auroral display at Earths North Pole.

On May 11, 1999, the solar wind that blows constantly from the Sun virtually disappeared. Dropping to a small fraction of its normal density and to half its normal speed, the solar wind died down enough to allow physicists to observe particles flowing directly from the Suns corona to Earth. This severe change in the solar wind also drastically changed the shape of Earths magnetic field and produced a rare auroral display at Earths North Pole.