How Plasma From Superstorms Affects Near-Earth Space

[drwayne]

<p id="first"><span class="date">ScienceDaily (May 31, 2008)</span> &mdash; NASA scientists have uncovered new details about how plasma from superstorms interact with Earth&rsquo;s magnetosphere.</p><p>&ldquo;The surprising result of this model is that the magnetosphere&rsquo;s main phase pressure is dominated by energetic protons from the plasmasphere, rather than from the solar wind,&rdquo; says Mei-Ching Fok, an astrophysicist at NASA&rsquo;s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Fok and her team will present their findings on May 29 at the American Geophysical Union conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.</p><p>Violent activity on the sun, such as a solar flare, can produce a monster superstorm that releases plasma into the solar wind. Large flares often result in an ejection of material from the solar corona, called a coronal mass ejection (CME). A CME can spew billions of tons of plasma away from the sun and toward Earth at speeds faster than 1.5 million mph. The plasma affects Earth and the vicinity surrounding Earth dominated by its magnetic field, called the magnetosphere.</p><p>Rest of the story:</p><p>http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080530154103.htm</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>