Analysis of magnetic fields on the Sun's surface offers a new clue on why sunspots appear.
magnetic fields & magnetism
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Scientists Watch Solar Winds Blast Mercury's Magnetic Field
A NASA team used the MESSENGER spacecraft to analyze Mercury's magnetosphere during intense solar wind pressure.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Large-Scale Electric Currents May Flow Through Mercury's Crust
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft discovered electric currents in Mercury's magnetosphere directed toward and away from the planet. Do the currents reach the planet? If so, where do they go?
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Satellite Data Yield Detailed Picture of the Lunar Wake
Researchers use satellite data to characterize the physical properties of the lunar wake and the processes that govern it.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Can Scientists Boost Solar Modeling Despite a Lack of Data?
Researchers show that a data processing technique could salvage useful information from raw solar observations, opening the door to improved understanding of the solar dynamo.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How the Solar Wind May Affect Weather and Climate
The Sun's influence on the Earth's climate is complicated, but researchers are slowly figuring out how the solar wind can indirectly affect clouds over the poles.
Posted inNews
Smartphone App Seeks to Make Navigation Safer
The app sends local magnetic field strength along with your phone’s position and orientation to scientists, who use the data to fine-tune magnetic field models.
Posted inNews
Theodore Richard Madden (1925–2013)
Madden, an AGU Fellow and a lifelong professor of geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was fascinated with all things electromagnetic. He died on 11 November 2013 at age 88.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Trapping Waves in Earth's Plasmasphere
Satellite observations explain why magnetosonic waves can be found in regions far from where they originate.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
From Magnetic Field Data, the Flow of Earth’s Core
How can researchers understand what happens at the center of the Earth when it can’t be measured directly?