solar wind reconnection tagged posts

This is a composite image of Uranus by Voyager 2 and two different observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope — one for the ring and one for the auroras. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Lamy/Observatoire de Paris

Unlike Earth, this icy planet’s magnetosphere opens and closes every day. More than 30 years after Voyager 2 sped past Uranus, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers are using the spacecraft’s data to learn more about the icy planet. Their new study suggests that Uranus’ magnetosphere, the region defined by the planet’s magnetic field and the material trapped inside it, gets flipped on and off like a light switch every day as it rotates along with the planet...