Geocentric Science
Related Articles
- A Quick Review on Polaris
- Celestial Motion
- Earth’s Layers
- Earth’s Magnetic Field
- Earth’s Revolution
- Earth’s Rotation
- Kepler's Second Law
- Luminosity and Temperature of Stars
- Proving that the Universe is Expanding
- Reasons for the Seasons
- Spectral/Emissions Lines and the Expanding Universe
- Star Trend Definitions and Concepts
- The Apparent Path of the Sun
- The Big Bang Theory
- The Coriolis Effect
- The Doppler Effect
- The Equinoxes
- The Formation of Earth
- The Life Cycle of a Massive Star
- The Life Cycle of an Average Star (Our Sun)
- The Milky Way Galaxy
- The Northern Lights
- The not-so Solid Earth
- The Summer Solstice
- The Winter Solstice
Other Categories
Image by Image Editor
Solar Wind and the Magnetosphere
An article about Astronomy & Deep Space
Charged particles are continuously emitted from the Sun in the form of Solar Wind. The temperature and speed of the particles will determine the force the particles are ejected from the Sun.
The Solar Winds could be extremely dangerous for Earth and all of its organisms. However, the Earth has a protection shield, known as the Magnetosphere (refer to the Earth’s Magnetic Field article).
As the Solar Wind approaches Earth (or other planets that have a magnetic field, such as Jupiter and Saturn), the Solar Wind is deflected away from Earth, and extends out like a tail on the side of the Earth facing away from the sun. The picture below, illustrates the tail on the right side.
Some of the charged particles are trapped with the Earth’s Magnetic Field in regions known as the Van Allen Radiation Belts. Charged particles moving through the atmosphere can create Auroras. The charged particles are funneled down to the Poles.
Do you have questions about this article? Email Jessica to get additional information.
Follow @GeocentricSci on Twitter
The content of GeocentricScience.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.