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The North geomagnetic pole (Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada) actually represents the South pole of Earth's magnetic field, and conversely the South geomagnetic pole corresponds to the north pole of Earth's magnetic field (because opposite magnetic poles attract and the north end of a magnet, like a compass needle, points toward Earth's South ...
In contrast, the magnetic poles of the actual Earth are not antipodal; that is, the line on which they lie does not pass through Earth's center. Owing to the motion of fluid in the Earth's outer core, the actual magnetic poles are constantly moving (secular variation). However, over thousands of years, their direction averages to the Earth's ...
Earth's two main belts extend from an altitude of about 640 to 58,000 km (400 to 36,040 mi) [3] above the surface, in which region radiation levels vary. The belts are in the inner region of Earth's magnetic field. They trap energetic electrons and protons. Other nuclei, such as alpha particles, are less prevalent.
The north magnetic pole, also known as the magnetic north pole, is a point on the surface of Earth's Northern Hemisphere at which the planet's magnetic field points vertically downward (in other words, if a magnetic compass needle is allowed to rotate in three dimensions, it will point straight down).
Earth's magnetic field is produced in the outer liquid part of its core due to a dynamo that produce electrical currents there. The ions and electrons of a plasma interacting with the Earth's magnetic field generally follow its magnetic field lines. These represent the force that a north magnetic pole would experience at any given point.
The south magnetic pole, also known as the magnetic south pole, is the point on Earth's Southern Hemisphere where the geomagnetic field lines are directed perpendicular to the nominal surface. The Geomagnetic South Pole, a related point, is the south pole of an ideal dipole model of the Earth's magnetic field that most closely fits the Earth's ...
The poles of the dipole are located close to Earth's geographic poles. At the equator of the magnetic field, the magnetic-field strength at the surface is 3.05 × 10 −5 T, with a magnetic dipole moment of 7.79 × 10 22 Am 2 at epoch 2000, decreasing nearly 6% per century (although it still remains stronger than its long time average). [146]
The equator is the only line of latitude which is also a great circle—meaning, one whose plane passes through the center of the globe. The plane of Earth's equator, when projected outwards to the celestial sphere , defines the celestial equator .