Iowa physicists describe ‘super expansion’ magnetic cloud from the sun
A University of Iowa-led physics team has detailed the extreme expansion of a magnetic cloud that originated from a huge, gaseous explosion on the sun.
In a new study, the researchers describe the inflated magnetic cloud as recorded by spacecraft in fortuitous, separate locations as the cloud approached Earth. During that interval — spanning some 13 million miles — the cloud expanded by a fifth of its original size during its approach to Earth, as plasma inside the super-expanded bubble heated up. The researchers termed the striking increase in size a “super expansion.”
