The Magnetosphere

Abstract

The magnetosphere is the interface between the interplanetary environment and the upper Earth's atmosphere. It is a vast region evolving under the control of the Earth's magnetic field. The magnetosphere is filled with a collision-free plasma, continuously out of thermodynamic equilibrium, turbulent, unstable, which undergoes almost daily global reconfigurations. The magnetosphere has only one visual manifestation, but of great aesthetic quality: the polar aurora.