Re: Surfing and Diving in the Earth's Magnetosphere, Cluster Celebrates

In Article <3B5388FF.D1B6D7FD@nova.astro.utoronto.ca> Andrew Yee wrote:
> ESA Science News
> http://sci.esa.int, 16 Jul 2001
>
> For the first time, scientists have been able to explore the
> magnetosphere - the magnetic bubble that surrounds the
> Earth - with a flotilla of four identical spacecraft. ...
> Earth is protected by a powerful magnetic field which
> forces the supersonic solar wind to sweep around the planet.
> In the process, the magnetic field is shaped into a gigantic
> teardrop that typically extends approximately 65,000 km
> towards the Sun and more than two million km - five
> times the distance to the Moon - in the opposite direction. ...
> Closer to Earth, the mini-armada has flown through the
> plasmasphere - a doughnut-shaped region of dense plasma,
> mostly electrons and protons, that lies between the Earth's
> two magnetic poles.

And beyond!  According to the Zetas, far enough to cause a pole shift
when Planet X passes between the Earth and Sun, at a distance of some 14
million miles from Earth.

    Planets act as magnets in accordance with their composition
    and liquidity. In this regard the Earth is a magnet, as it has a
    high concentration of iron in both its core and crust, and its
    core is fluid. The strongest magnets are produced from softened
    or melted ore, as the atoms are free to line up end to end. The
    core of the Earth is perpetually in this state, and thus it acts
    like a huge magnet, as large as the globe itself. Magnetic
    influences between planets are greater than humans imagine,
    because they use as their frame of reference objects on the
    surface. The Earth's crust is magnetically diffuse, representing
    many different pole alliances over the eons, as magma hardened
    after volcanic eruptions during pole shifts. The Earth's thick
    crust acts as a shield in this way, so that only sensitive needles
    on compasses, floating freely, jiggle into alignment with the
    Earth's core. A planet's magnetic influence is not encapsulated
    by its crust, but reaches beyond this even to the ends of the solar
    system. Like the shields that men stood behind to watch an
    atomic blast, they may have avoided the radiation, but the
    landscape behind them was devastated. The Earth's magnetism
    oozes around the various crustal plates acting as shields to
    recreate its essential alignment out in space, considering any
    confusion the crust may have presented as no more than an
    annoyance. A resonance is involved, so that the magnetic field
    can reestablish itself, filling in any blanks. Thus, when
    magnetized planets encounter each other, such as when
    [Planet X] passes near the Earth, the strength of their reaction
    to each other is much greater than man might imagine.
        ZetaTalk™, Planetary Magnetism
           (http://www.zetatalk.com/science/s56.htm)