NASA Goddard: Solar Energetic ParticlesVery nicely packaged set of four animations by Krystofer Kim, animator at the Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab. They include, in sequential order: 1) Solar energetic particles (SEPs) escaping the Sun and interfering with a satellite; 2) An intense solar flare resulting in a CME whose ejected particles encounter Earth's neighborhood; 3) Close-up of a SEP event including solar flare and CME; and 4) Earth's magnetic field shielding the planet from solar energetic particles.
NASA Visualizations: Solar Wind Interacting with Earth's Magnetic FieldDoes Earth's magnetic field shield the planet from all incoming solar wind? Well.....no. These four animations, developed by free-lance animator Josh Masters for Goddard Space Flight Center, offer a way to visualize what's going on. As solar energetic particles reach the barrier of our planet's magnetic field, they can cause magnetic field lines to reconnect, causing atmospheric loss at the polar cusps. The result is breathtaking auroras.