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The magnetic equator is the line where the inclination is zero (the magnetic field is horizontal). The global definition of the Earth's field is based on a mathematical model. If a line is drawn through the center of the Earth, parallel to the moment of the best-fitting magnetic dipole, the two positions where it intersects the Earth's surface ...
Plot showing field lines (which, in three dimensions would describe "shells") for L-values 1.5, 2, 3, 4 and 5 using a dipole model of the Earth's magnetic field. The L-shell, L-value, or McIlwain L-parameter (after Carl E. McIlwain) is a parameter describing a particular set of planetary magnetic field lines.
Earth's_magnetic_field,_schematic.png (566 × 503 pixels, file size: 96 KB, MIME type: image/png) This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons . Information from its description page there is shown below.
Magnetic field lines are like streamlines in fluid flow, in that they represent a continuous distribution, and a different resolution would show more or fewer lines. An advantage of using magnetic field lines as a representation is that many laws of magnetism (and electromagnetism) can be stated completely and concisely using simple concepts ...
[1] [2] A diagram showing a representative set of neighboring field lines is a common way of depicting a vector field in scientific and mathematical literature; this is called a field line diagram. They are used to show electric fields , magnetic fields , and gravitational fields among many other types.
The spacing between field lines is an indicator of the relative strength of the magnetic field. Where magnetic field lines converge the field grows stronger, and where they diverge, weaker. Now, it can be shown that in the motion of gyrating particles, the "magnetic moment" μ = W ⊥ /B (or relativistically, p ⊥ 2 /2mγB) stays very nearly ...
Schematic of the Birkeland or Field-Aligned Currents and the ionospheric current systems they connect to, Pedersen and Hall currents. [1]A Birkeland current (also known as field-aligned current, FAC) is a set of electrical currents that flow along geomagnetic field lines connecting the Earth's magnetosphere to the Earth's high latitude ionosphere.
Opposite the compressed magnetic field is the magnetotail, where the magnetosphere extends far beyond the astronomical object. It contains two lobes, referred to as the northern and southern tail lobes. Magnetic field lines in the northern tail lobe point towards the object while those in the southern tail lobe point away.