Sample Planetary Magnetosphere

Sample Planetary Magnetosphere
As an example of a planetary magnetospheric configuration, Neptune's magnetosphere is shown here as deduced from data obtained by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. The sun is off the figure to the left, and the shapes of the external boundaries are established by the supersonic plasma solar wind that blows away from the sun. The exterior bowshock and magnetopause boundaries are highlighted, and within the interior of the magnetosphere are shown the radiation belt of high energy charged particles, the orbit of the satellite Triton (analogous to the satellite Titan at Saturn), the position of the outer ring of Neptune, and the orientation of the internal magnetic axis (M) relative to the planetary spin axis (W). The magnetotail extends off the figure to the right for at least 100's of planetary radii.
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