Magnetosphere is not spherical but it shaped like an elongated teardrop with the rounded end of the teardrop facing towards the Sun.
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Magnetosphere
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– Magnetosphere
Earth’s magnetosphere is the region of space within the influence of Earth’s magnetic field.
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– Solar Wind
Magnetosphere shields the Earth from the most of the effects of the solar wind.
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– Magnetopause
Sunward edge of the magnetosphere is called the magnetopause and located about 435,000 miles (700,000 km) from the Earth.
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– Bow Shock
Immediately to the sunward side of the magnetopause is a shock wave which is called the bow shock – that is caused by the solar wind being deflected by the magnetopause.
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– Magnetotail
On the side away from the Sun, the magnetosphere trails away like the tail of comet in what is known as the magnetotail.
BSL Version
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Earth’s Magnetosphere
Earth’s Magnetosphere
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Bow shock – immediately to the sunward side of the magnetopause is a shockwave; this is called the bow shock – that is caused by the solar wind being deflected by the magnetopause.
o Magnetosheath – the region of space between the magnetopause and the bow shock of a Earth’s magnetosphere.
o Magnetopause – the sunward edge of the magnetosphere is called the magnetopause and is located about 438,000 miles from the Earth.
o Magnetosphere – the region of space within the influence of earth’s magnetic field – the magnetosphere shields the earth from most of the effects of the solar wind.
o Northern tail lobe – on the side away from the Sun – the magnetosphere trails away like the tail of a comet in what is known as the magnetotail.
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Southern tail lobe – on the side away from the Sun – the magnetosphere trails away like the tail of a comet in what is known as the magnetotail.
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Plasmasphere – Earth’s plasmasphere is an inner part of the magnetosphere. It is located just outside the upper ionosphere located in Earth’s atmosphere.
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BSL Version
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8 planets in our solar system
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- 8 planets in our solar system – Venus and Mars are the only two that do not have their own magnetosphere.
o - although the magnetosphere deflects most of the charged particles coming from the Sun and cosmic rays, some get through and become concentrated in two doughnut-shaped regions of radiation known as the Van Allen belts.
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- Jupiter has by far the largest magnetosphere and its magnetosphere is located about nearly 4 million miles from the Jupiter’s surface.
- magnetism of Earth’s Moon – too weak to produce a magnetosphere, but two of Jupiter’s moons – Io and Ganymede, have magnetic fields of enough strength.
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BSL Version
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Did you know?
This mapped of the heliopause, which is the boundary
between the heliopause (brown) and interstellar space (dark blue.)
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- stars also produce magnetic fields and have magnetospheres too – the Sun’s magnetosphere is called the heliosphere and its magnetopause (called the heliopause) has a radius of more than 7,440 billion miles or 80 AU.
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