• → European Space Agency

    • About Science & Technology

    • For Public

    • For Educators

    • ESA

    • Science & Technology

    • Cluster

    • Missions
    • Show All Missions
    • Mission Home
    • Summary
    • Fact Sheet
    • Objectives
    • Mission Team
    • Orbit View
    • Background Science
    • Earth's Magnetic Field
    • Plasma Regions
    • Solar Wind
    • Energetic Particles
    • Space Weather
    • Science Results
    • Highlights
    • Refereed Publications

    • Spacecraft…

      • Spacecraft
      • 3D Model
      • Instruments
      • Engineering

    • Mission Operations…

      • Mission Operations
      • Launch Vehicle
      • Launch Campaign
      • Orbit/Navigation
      • Mission Timeline
      • Status Reports
    • Science Operations
    • Science Operations
    • Guest Investigator Operations
    • JSOC
    • CSDS
    • Cluster Active Archive
    • Resources
    • News Archive
    • Multimedia Gallery
    • Publication Archive
    • Calendar of Events
    • Services
    • Contact Us
    • Subscribe
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Bookmark and Share

    Earth's Bow Shock in the Solar Wind

    Date: 20 Jun 2006
    Depicts: Illustration of Earth's bow shock
    Copyright: ESA

    Sketch of the Earth's magnetosphere (in blue), embedded in the solar wind flow. Due to the interaction of the permanent incoming solar wind (coming from the left of the figure) with the Earth's magnetosphere, a permanent collisionless shock called a bow shock (yellow arc) is formed in front of the nose of the magnetopause, the external boundary layer of the magnetosphere.


    Last Update: 29 Nov 2010

    • Shortcut URL
    • http://sci.esa.int/jump.cfm?oid=39558
    • Latest selection
    • Waves in the magnetic reconnection region
    • The magnetic reconnection region in Earth's magnetosphere
    • Energy transferred by bursty bulk flows
    • Image Hi-Res Versions
    • Hi-Res [tif]
      672.13 kb.
    • See also
    • Cluster's insight into space turbulence
    • Cluster reveals the reformation of the Earth's bow shock
    • Cluster and Double Star discover density holes in the solar wind

    Connect with us

    • RSS
    • Youtube
    • Twitter
    • Flickr
    • Google Buzz
    • Livestream
    • Subscribe
    • App Store
    • ESA Science Twitter

    Follow ESA science

    • Copyright 2000 - 2013 © European Space Agency. All rights reserved.

    • Terms and Conditions