Head-On Crash Spotted Between Solar Wind and Earth's Magnetic Field

SPACE.com -- Head-On Crash Spotted Between Solar Wind and Earth's Magnetic Field: "A spacecraft designed to scan the edge of the solar system has turned its gaze back toward Earth, taking an unprecedented look at the solar wind's head-on collision with the planet's magnetic field.

NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, known as IBEX, has recorded the first-ever look of the solar wind - the million-miles-per-hour stream of charged particles from the sun - crashing headlong into Earth's magnetosphere, space agency officials said in a statement. The solar wind could strip away the planet's atmosphere if the magnetosphere, a magnetic bubble surrounding the planet, didn't help deflect it.