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As well as deflecting the solar wind, the Earth's magnetic field deflects cosmic rays, high-energy charged particles that are mostly from outside the Solar System. Many cosmic rays are kept out of the Solar System by the Sun's magnetosphere, or heliosphere. [30] By contrast, astronauts on the Moon risk exposure to radiation.
The Earth's Moon has no atmosphere or intrinsic magnetic field, and consequently its surface is bombarded with the full solar wind. The Project Apollo missions deployed passive aluminum collectors in an attempt to sample the solar wind, and lunar soil returned for study confirmed that the lunar regolith is enriched in atomic nuclei deposited ...
However, at high altitudes, the magnetic field is significantly distorted by the solar wind and its solar magnetic field. On the dayside of Earth, the magnetic field is significantly compressed by the solar wind to a distance of approximately 65,000 kilometers (40,000 mi). Earth's bow shock is about 17 kilometers (11 mi) thick [12] and located ...
Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun.
Aurora Australis, or the Southern Lights, is a natural light display caused by solar wind particles colliding with Earth’s magnetic field. This creates colorful lights in the sky, typically ...
The outflow of ions due to the ambipolar electric field end up accumulating in the plasmasphere if they follow closed magnetic field lines but ions following open magnetic field lines exit the Earth system. [13]: 167 Ions following open magnetic field lines are push away from the Sun by forces of the solar wind (anti-solar convection).
The structure of the magnetic field emanating from the edge of the black hole called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A*, closely resembles one surrounding the only other black hole ever imaged, a larger ...
Earth’s magnetic field was once 30 times weaker than it is today. This change may have played a pivotal role in the blossoming of complex life, new research found. Over 500 million years ago ...