solar wind
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Vintage Voyager Data Reveals Plasma Jets in Jupiter’s Magnetosphere
There are jets in Jupiter’s magnetosheath, according to Voyager 2 mission data from 1979. The 45-year-old information is now revealing the dynamics of the plasma stream. You may remember Voyager 2. It launched in August 1977 and is now 12.66 billion miles from Earth, hurtling out into interstellar space. It is the second-most-distant object humans…
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Mercury Probe Flies Through Charged Particle Rain That Triggers the Planet’s Auroras
On October 1, 2021, a pair of small spacecraft got their first good look at the closest planet to the Sun, revealing the strange process through which Mercury produces its own auroras. BepiColombo, a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), launched in October 2018 and is still…
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Physicists Get a Unique View of a Destroyed Comet
When C/2019 Y4 ATLAS fragmented in April 2020, many were dismayed at the loss of what would’ve been the brightest comet since the 1997 passing of Hale-Bopp. But NASA and the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter just flew near what’s left of ATLAS, giving scientists a rare look at what happens to a comet’s tail…
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We’ve Never Seen The Solar Wind Like This Before
Like an endless blaze roaring forth from the gates of Hell, the solar wind is majestic, awe inspiring and terrifying. The only proof you need that the Sun is the one and true master of our solar system is this never-before-seen view of a torrent of charged particles bursting out of our star’s corona.