There seems to be no way that particles streaming past the earth along magnetic field lines can make a turn, move at right angles to those lines for a bit and end up inside the magnetosphere.
But gamma-ray telescopes are also confused by charged particles trapped in the earth's magnetic field.
But because these particles are electrically charged, they also interact with the Earth's magnetic field.
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In addition, it is further evidence that the great fish can navigate, possibly using the Earth's magnetic field.
The portals, also known as X-points in Scudder-speak, are born from the mingling of Earth's magnetic field with incoming solar winds.
The inner core, made of very pure, solid iron, rotates along with the outer core, dragging the Earth's magnetic field with them.
Bursts toward earth can cause electromagnetic storms when they react with the Earth's magnetic field, resulting in an explosion of color in the sky.
Earth's magnetic field helps to deflect much of that harmful radiation.
These craft will study the interaction between the solar wind (the breeze of electrically charged particles emitted by the sun) and the earth's magnetic field.
The research could help test simulations of how the outer, fluid core generates the Earth's magnetic field, which shields our planet and the teeming life on it from harmful cosmic rays.
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Others have put forward different ideas for how pigeons find their way, suggesting that the birds use smell, visual clues or the Earth's magnetic field, or even a combination of all of these.
Earth's magnetic field gives the planet and its inhabitants a good measure of protection, but with space agencies seemingly intent on sending astronauts to the Moon and even to Mars in the next few decades, there is a pressing need for a fuller understanding of the Sun's activity.
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Scientists say the northern lights are created by the sun's super hot atmosphere, which blasts particles into the protective magnetic field surrounding the Earth.
And water would be all the more exciting on Ganymede because it is the largest moon in the solar system (larger even than the planets Mercury and Pluto) and, like earth, it has a permanent magnetic field that protects part of its surface from bombardment by certain sorts of life-destroying radiation.
The magnetic field associated with these particles helps protect the Earth from cosmic rays by deflecting them from the planet.
Another possibility would be to figure out how to generate a magnetic field around the spacecraft that mimics the one that protects Earth from the worst cosmic radiation.
The planet has no internal magnetic field, which might be due to its core failing to circulate in the way the Earth's does.
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