A comprehensive look at how the solar wind is diverted around Mars, including the relative strength of the three biggest forces at work in this region.
solar wind
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Better Way to Predict Space Storms
A new model of solar winds could reduce false alarms.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Solar Wind Sets the Magnetosphere Ringing
A combination of data from satellites and ground-based instruments gives new insight into solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere interactions.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Jets of Ionospheric Cold Plasma Discovered at the Magnetopause
The lower-energy particles may play a larger role in magnetic reconnection than previously believed, influencing space weather near Earth.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Earth’s Outer Radiation Belts Lose Their Electrons
A new analysis of three space storms reveals the mechanisms of particle loss from the Van Allen belts.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Angles of Plasma Ropes near Mars Point to Different Origins
Variation in the orientation of flux rope features in Mars’s magnetotail suggests that some of them form on the planet’s Sun-facing side and travel to the night side.
Posted inNews
Largest Flare of Past 9 Years Erupts from Sun
A massive flare and blast of charged particles toward Earth may disrupt satellites and communications and push auroras toward lower latitudes through tomorrow, according to space weather experts.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Observing Mercury’s Brilliant Flares from Earth
Researchers make the first short-term observation of sodium flares in Mercury’s exosphere.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Spacecraft Returns Its First Data on Martian Solar Irradiance
Scientists demonstrate the capabilities and limitations of the mathematical model used to calculate solar irradiance using measurements from NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN).
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Scientists Probe the Calm After Solar Storms
In forecasting the effects of solar storms, understanding how they subside—and not just how they arrive—will be crucial.