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A rendering of the magnetic field lines of the magnetosphere of the Earth. In astronomy and planetary science, a magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field. [1] [2] It is created by a celestial body with an active interior dynamo.
Venus only has an induced magnetosphere formed by the Sun's magnetic field carried by the solar wind. [46] This process can be understood as the field lines wrapping around an obstacle—Venus in this case. The induced magnetosphere of Venus has a bow shock, magnetosheath, magnetopause and magnetotail with the current sheet. [46] [47]
Despite its name, the magnetosphere is asymmetric, with the sunward side being about 10 Earth radii out but with the other side stretching out in a magnetotail that extends beyond 200 Earth radii. [28] Sunward of the magnetopause is the bow shock, the area where the solar wind slows abruptly. [27]
Bow shock occurs when the magnetosphere of an astrophysical object interacts with the nearby flowing ambient plasma such as the solar wind. For Earth and other magnetized planets, it is the boundary at which the speed of the stellar wind abruptly drops as a result of its approach to the magnetopause .
Artistic representation of Earth's magnetosphere. The plasma sheet is highlighted in yellow. In the magnetosphere, the plasma sheet is a sheet-like region of denser (0.3-0.5 ions/cm 3 versus 0.01-0.02 in the lobes) [citation needed] hot plasma and lower magnetic field located on the magnetotail and near the equatorial plane, between the magnetosphere's north and south lobes.
Venus’ cloud data prove that Venus' clouds contain a small amount of water, possibly proving that Venus once had a functioning water cycle. [7] Using image data from Magellan, scientists could fill lowlands of Venus’ surface area with water, leaving only Venusian continents visible.
The magnetosheath is the region of space between the magnetopause and the bow shock of a planet's magnetosphere.The regularly organized magnetic field generated by the planet becomes weak and irregular in the magnetosheath due to interaction with the incoming solar wind, and is incapable of fully deflecting the highly charged particles.