Magnetospheric Multiscale tagged posts

Oblique view of the reconnection region. Magnetic field direction is represented by the cyan lines. The color trail represents an electron moving in the field. Color of the particle trail represents a dimensionless speed of the particle, with blue for slow and red for fast. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Tom Bridgman

You can’t see them, but swarms of electrons are buzzing through the magnetosphere around Earth. The electrons spiral and dive around the planet in a complex dance dictated by the magnetic and electric fields. When they penetrate into the magnetosphere close enough to Earth, the high-energy electrons can damage satellites in orbit and trigger auroras...

In a typical Alfvén wave, the particles (yellow) move freely along the magnetic field lines (blue).
Credits: NASA Goddard’s Scientific Visualization Studio/Tom Bridgman, data visualizer

NASA scientists are reshaping the basic understanding of the kinetic Alfvén wave in space. When NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale – or MMS – mission was launched, the scientists knew it would answer questions fundamental to the nature of our universe – and MMS hasn’t disappointed. A new finding provides observational proof of a 50-year-old theory and reshapes the basic understanding of the kinetic Alfvén wave...

The four identical spacecraft of NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission (one of which is illustrated here) fly through the boundaries of Earth’s magnetic field to study an explosive process of magnetic reconnection. Thought to be the driver behind everything from solar flares to aurora, magnetic reconnection creates a sudden reconfiguration of magnetic fields, releasing huge amounts of energy in the process. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Just under four months into the science phase of the mission, NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, is delivering promising early results on magnetic reconnection—a magnetic explosion that’s related to everything from the northern lights to solar flares...