Magnetic Reconnection (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Magnetic Reconnection

Caption

The explosive realignment of magnetic fields -- known as magnetic reconnection -- is a thought to be a common process at the boundaries of Earth's magnetic bubble. Magnetic reconnection can connect Earth's magnetic field to the interplanetary magnetic field carried by the solar wind or coronal mass ejections. NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission studies magnetic reconnection by flying through the boundaries of Earth's magnetic field.

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Credits: NASA Goddard/SWRC/CCMC/SWMF

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