However, there’s a catch. Before electrons can be accelerated by these shock waves, they need to contain a certain amount of energy to begin with. Nobody knows how electrons gain this initial energy.

During this event, electrons in Earth's foreshock region—an area where the solar wind is predisturbed by its interaction with the bow shock—reached unprecedented energy levels, surpassing 500 keV.

During this event, electrons in Earth's foreshock region -- an area where the solar wind is predisturbed by its interaction with the bow shock -- reached unprecedented energy levels, surpassing ...

It also sent a supersonic shockwave around the planet, known as a bow shock. New research, published in Geophysical Research Letters, has investigated the effects of this reduced solar wind activity.

An example effect is the bow shock created as the magnetosphere passes through the solar wind. The exchange of electromagnetic and thermal energy in collisionless plasmas is an important area of ...