Shields Up Protect Spaceship Earth from Solar Storms

Our planet has its own protective shields and I had no idea. Our planet doesn't just sit there and take whatever solar wind gives it, instead it fights back! The Earth can and does bring up a plasma shield to protect itself! Most solar wind, streams of high energy particles flowing from the sun, is blocked by a bubble of magnetism called the magnetosphere that surrounds our planet. When the sun’s magnetic field lines up with our magnetic field, however, cracks appear in the magnetosphere and charged particles get in. These result in auroras and geomagnetic storms that mess with navigation systems and power grids. The Earth’s magnetic field also traps gases as they escape from the upper atmosphere and when those gases are ionized by the ultraviolet rays of the sun plasma forms. This plasma is what makes up the plasmasphere and the plasmasphere is another shield that can send plumes to create a buffer zone that makes it harder for the Earth and sun’s magnetic fields to line up and reconnect, hence keeping solar storms from slamming us. NASA’s THEMIS spacecraft (3 of them) that study solar storms monitored one of these plumes so even though we don’t know when they’re likely to form, we have evidence that they do. So next time danger appears on our planet’s horizon, I guess, it’s time for, “Shields up, Sulu!”