The Magnetosphere: Earth Raises its Shields

  • Released Thursday, February 28, 2002
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A view of a computer-generated model of the Earth's magnetosphere. Semi-transparent surfaces represent particle density (red is high, blue is low) and silvery tubes represent the magnetic field lines. In this particular model, the solar wind has an ambient density of 8.35 particles/cm^3. The isosurfaces are then red (> 17 particles/cm^3), yellow (> 12 particles/cm^3), green (> 8.6 particles/cm^3) and blue (< 1.0 particle/cm^3).

Fly-around view of the Earth's magnetosphere.

A profile view of the magnetosphere. The Sun would be located to the left. Lines from the Earth's magnetic field are stretched out behind the Earth to form the magnetotail.

A profile view of the magnetosphere. The Sun would be located to the left. Lines from the Earth's magnetic field are stretched out behind the Earth to form the magnetotail.

A view of the magnetosphere on the sunward side. The interaction of the solar wind with the field and particles compresses this region to form a shield-like structure.

A view of the magnetosphere on the sunward side. The interaction of the solar wind with the field and particles compresses this region to form a shield-like structure.

A closer view of the Earth inside the magnetosphere. The field lines do not reach the Earth due to the boundary of the computational model.

A closer view of the Earth inside the magnetosphere. The field lines do not reach the Earth due to the boundary of the computational model.

A view of the magnetotail, looking sunward.

A view of the magnetotail, looking sunward.

Another view of the magnetotail, looking sunward.

Another view of the magnetotail, looking sunward.

Slate image from video tape reads, 'The Magnetosphere: the Earth Raises its Shields.'

Slate image from video tape reads, 'The Magnetosphere: the Earth Raises its Shields.'

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Thursday, February 28, 2002.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:57 PM EDT.

Series

This visualization can be found in the following series:

Datasets used in this visualization

  • [3D Unstructured-mesh Magnetosphere Simulation]

    ID: 554
    Type: Model Sensor: 3D Unstructured-mesh Magnetosphere Simulation

    Model generated by Dan Spicer, NASA

    See all pages that use this dataset

Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.