The Sun's plasma blasts Earth’s magnetosphere at more than a million miles per hour. The fastest pours from holes in the corona, but until recently the source of the "slow" solar wind was a mystery.
solar wind
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Pluto's Interactions with the Solar Wind Are Unique
Space physicists say that Pluto's atmosphere interacts with the solar wind in a never-before-seen hybrid way, one that's both comet-like and planet-like.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Mysterious Heavy Ion Beams Above Mars Explained
NASA's latest mission to Mars has uncovered the origins of fast-moving streams of particles high above the planet, flowing against the solar wind.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
New Solar Wind Model Could Improve Space Weather Forecasts
Real-world data drive a simulation that successfully predicts Sun structures and interplanetary solar wind dynamics.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Satellites Test Theory of Magnetic Reconnection
A quartet of satellites flying through Earth's magnetic field measures its interaction with the Sun's and puts a theory about their reconnection to the test.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Sun's Magnetic Field Impacts Earth's Thunderstorms
Lightning strikes are more frequent when Earth encounters a polarity switch in the solar magnetic field.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Refining Solar Wind Models to Better Predict Space Weather
Despite decades of space-based observations of the Sun, scientists still struggle to make precise predictions of the solar wind.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
X Marks the Spot of Magnetic Islands in Space
At the edge of Earth's magnetic field, satellites have found X-shaped fields and fast-moving "islands" of magnetism that could shed light on the physics of solar storms.
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?