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IBEX - Looks Back at Earth and Catches a Head-On Crash Between Solar Wind and Earth's Magnetic Field
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[quote:Anonymous Coward 865798:MV8xMTY0NzQ0XzE4ODA3NzE2XzIzRUMxQjZF] [quote:Anonymous Coward 1007146] Here's a representation of it: http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=ibex-solar-wind-earth-magnetosphere-100817-02.jpg&cap=The+IBEX+spacecraft+has+found+that+Energetic+Neutral+Atoms%2C+or+ENAs%2C+are+coming+from+a+region+just+outside+Earth%27s+magnetopause+where+nearly+stationary+protons+from+the+solar+wind+interact+with+the+tenuous+cloud+of+hydrogen+atoms+in+Earth%27s+exosphere.+Credit%3A+NASA%2FGoddard+Space+Flight+Center [i]The IBEX spacecraft has found that Energetic Neutral Atoms, or ENAs, are coming from a region just outside Earth's magnetopause where nearly stationary protons from the solar wind interact with the tenuous cloud of hydrogen atoms in Earth's exosphere.[/i] Sickscent, in that image you see the ENA-formation zone. [b]Energetic neutral atoms equal plasma[/b], isn't that so? That's where plasma is created? [/quote] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energetic_neutral_atom [i]ENA images are constructed from the detection of energetic neutral atoms that are created in charge-exchange processes between ions in a hot plasma, such as the solar wind, and the atoms of a cold neutral background gas.[2] Earth's magnetosphere preserves Earth's atmosphere and protects us from cell damaging radiation. This region of "space weather" is the site of geomagnetic storms that disrupt communications systems and pose radiation hazards to humans traveling at high polar altitudes or in orbiting spacecraft. A deeper understanding of this region is vitally important. Geomagnetic weather systems have been late to benefit from the satellite imagery taken for granted in weather forecasting, and space physics because their origins in magnetospheric plasmas present the added problem of invisibility.[1] The heliosphere protects the entire solar system from the majority of cosmic rays but is so remote that only an imaging technique such as ENA imaging will reveal its properties. The heliosphere's structure is due to the invisible interaction between the solar wind and cold gas from the local interstellar medium.[2] The creation of ENAs by space plasmas was predicted but their discovery was both deliberate and serendipitous. [/i] [/quote]
Original Message
It's all about how the Sun is interacting with the Earth nowadays...
NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, known as
IBEX, has recorded the first-ever look of the solar wind - the million-miles-per-hour stream of charged particles from the sun - crashing headlong into Earth's magnetosphere, space agency officials said in a statement.
The solar wind could strip away the planet's atmosphere if the magnetosphere, a magnetic bubble surrounding the planet, didn't help deflect it...
..."It will take a while before the community comes to a consensus about what the IBEX data really mean," said IBEX principal investigator David McComas, assistant vice president at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "Yet we've already learned much, much more about our place in the solar system."
[
link to www.space.com
]
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