#Rosetta finds #magnetic_field-free bubble at #comet
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/03/11/rosetta-finds-magnetic-field-free-bubble-at-comet
This article is mirrored from the main ESA web portal. ESA’s #rosetta spacecraft has revealed a surprisingly large region around its host comet devoid of any magnetic field. When ESA’s #Giotto flew past #Comet_Halley three decades ago, it found a vast magnetic-free region extending more than 4000 km from the nucleus. This was the first observation of something that scientists had until then only thought about but had never seen. Interplanetary space is pervaded by the #solar_wind, a flow of electrically charged particles streaming from the Sun and carrying its magnetic field across the Solar System. But a comet pouring lots of gas into space obstructs the solar wind. At the interface between the solar wind and the coma of gas around the active comet, particle collisions as well as sunlight (...)
#Comet_67P #Comets #Images #Science #diamagnetic_cavity #rpc #RPC-Mag