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Solar eruption and earth magnetic field. Artwork.

auteur: Nasa/ESA/Novapix

référence: a-sol99-00002

Image Size 300 DPI: 20 * 15 cm

This illustration shows a solar eruption in the direction of Earth. This left portion is composed of a Soho satellite EIT image superimposed on a LASCO C2 coronagraph. Two to four days later, the CME cloud is shown striking and beginning to be mostly deflected around the Earth's magnetosphere. The blue paths emanating from the Earth's poles represent some of its magnetic field lines. The magnetic cloud of plasma can extend to 30 million miles wide by the time it reaches earth. These storms, which occur frequently, can disrupt communications and navigational equipment, damage satellites, and even cause blackouts

Keywords for this photo:

ASTRONOMY - EARTH - EARTH FROM SPACE - ILLUSTRATION - MAGNETIC FIELD - MAGNETOSPHERE - PLANET - SOLAR FLARE - STAR - SUN -