Earth, Saturn, and Jupiter have auroras at their poles, generated by the interaction of their global magnetic fields with the solar wind. Mars has no global magnetic field, only remnants Keep reading
Tag: magnetohydrodynamics
“Emerald Roots”
As charged particles from the solar wind bombard the upper atmosphere, a glowing plasma forms and dances in the sky. The green light of the plasma reflects off moistened sand, Keep reading
“A Sun Question”
The sun‘s surface and atmosphere are endlessly dynamic, with magnetic lines, plasma, and convection creating a constant churn. In this photo by astrophotographer Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau, a curving question-mark-like filament Keep reading
Vivid Auroras Over Iceland
When solar storms in late February sent energetic particles toward Earth, photographer Cari Letelier ventured to the remote northern edge of Iceland to capture the resulting auroras. When fast-moving, high-energy Keep reading
Forming Zigzags
Scientists are fascinated by the organized patterns that can emerge from non-living systems. Here, researchers study micron-sized magnetic particles, immersed in a viscoelastic fluid and subjected to an oscillating magnetic Keep reading
Solar Coronal Heating
Our Sun‘s visible surface, the photosphere, is about 5800 Kelvin, but the temperature of the wispy corona is far hotter, reaching a million Kelvin in some places. Why the corona Keep reading
Magnetic Soap Films
Soap films naturally thin over time as fluid evaporates and differences in film thickness cause surface-tension-driven flows. In this video, researchers experiment with adding magnetic nanoparticles to the soap film. Keep reading
Mixing With E. Coli
What happens when a flow meets swimming micro-organisms? Does the flow affect the swimmers? And how do the swimmers affect the flow in turn? Those are the questions behind the Keep reading
Turbulence in Accretion Disks
Accretion disks form everywhere, from around young, planet-building stars to massive black holes. As matter circles in the disk, it slowly loses angular momentum and falls inward toward the central Keep reading
Contactless Bending
Using electromagnetism, researchers are bending and shaping soft liquid wires even against gravity. The team used galinstan — an alloy of gallium, indium, and tin that remains liquid at room Keep reading