Below: Proposed model showing inertial Alfven resonance cones excited by magnetic reconnection in Earth's magnetotail [from P. Bellan, Geophys. Res. Letters, 23,1717(1996)]. An investigation of...

The magnetosphere is a bubble of magnetism that surrounds Earth and protects us from solar wind. Exploring the bubble is a key goal of the THEMIS mission, launched in February 2007. The big discove...