Images/videos may be used by the media and the public for educational and informational purposes only

Image
magnetic reconnection tail
Image Courtesy of Southwest Research Institute
Caption
The latest findings of the SwRI-led Magnetospheric Multiscale mission detailed the magnetic reconnection processes taking place in the Earth’s magnetotail. Scientists discovered that the tail regions where magnetic fields meet, break apart and reconnect are surprisingly nonturbulent, but create hypersonic jets of electrons.