The Moon Passes Through Earth's Magnetotail

  • Released Thursday, April 30, 2026
  • Last updated Friday, May 22, 2026 at 11:58 AM EDT
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The Moon orbits the Earth 13 times a year. During a small part of that orbit, it passes through a special region called Earth's magnetotail, which stretches out on the night side of our planet. While inside the magnetotail, the Moon is protected from the Sun's radiation. But once it leaves the magnetotail, it is again exposed to the solar wind. Scientists are actively studying this magnetotail region, and we're excited about what the Moon's monthly visits can teach us. Each time the Moon passes through, it gives us an opportunity to learn more about Earth's magnetic environment and how our planet protects itself from space radiation.

In this data visualization, we see 12 hours of the Moon's 29-day orbit around the Earth, specifically focused on the limited time that the Moon spends inside the magnetotail. Yellow colors show the hottest temperatures in the magnetotail, and red shows cooler areas. Purple lines show how the magnetic field moves in response to the solar wind.

This data visualization shows the same scientific model data as in the previous visualization, but now we see the Moon at its furthest point from the magnetotail. Yellow colors show the hottest temperatures in the magnetotail, and red shows cooler areas. Purple lines show how the magnetic field moves in response to the solar wind.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Related papers

Generation of field-aligned currents during substorm expansion: An update

Ebihara, Y., T. Tanaka, Generation of field-aligned currents during substorm expansion: An update, Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 128, e2022JA031011, https://www.doi.org/10.1029/2022JA031011 (2023).

DOI: 10.1029/2022JA031011

This paper can be found at: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022JA031011

Datasets used

  • REPPU

    ID: 1270
    Type: Model

    Credit: Tanaka, T., Nakamizo, A., Yoshikawa, A., Fujita, S., Shinagawa, H., Shimazu, H., et al. Substorm convection and current system deduced from the global simulation. Journal of Geophysical Research, 115(A5), A05220. https://www.doi.org/10.1029/2009JA014676 (2010).

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

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This page was originally published on Thursday, April 30, 2026.
This page was last updated on Friday, May 22, 2026 at 11:58 AM EDT.