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Earth's magnetosphere and outer radiation belt under sub-Alfvénic solar wind

Lugaz, Noé; Farrugia, Charles J.; Schwadron, Nathan A. +3 more

The interaction between Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind results in the formation of a collisionless bow shock 60,000-100,000 km upstream of our planet, as long as the solar wind fast magnetosonic Mach (hereafter Mach) number exceeds unity. Here, we present one of those extremely rare instances, when the solar wind Mach number reached ste…