Lightning strikes are more frequent when Earth encounters a polarity switch in the solar magnetic field.
solar wind
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?
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
MAVEN Unlocks Secrets of the Martian Atmosphere
In its first month, NASA’s orbiter saw effects of the solar wind at low altitude and tracked a plume of gases escaping into space
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Measuring Solar Wind Interactions in Mars’s Exosphere
An updated analytical technique gave researchers a new look at ion cyclotron waves in Mars’s extended hydrogen exosphere.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Observing the Birkeland Currents
Scientists use continuous measurements to observe a complicated process in the Earth’s magnetosphere.