Reconnection in Earth's magnetotail

Abstract

Plasma Astrophysics Magnetic fields in plasmas can rapidly rearrange themselves in a process known as magnetic reconnection, which releases energy and accelerates particles. Torbert et al. used the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission to probe a reconnection event in Earth's magnetotail—the region of plasma downstream from the planet as it moves through the solar wind. MMS has previously studied reconnection in the upstream magnetopause, but a different orbit was used to study the magnetotail, where the symmetry of the process is different. The authors measured plasma properties on scales of the electron dynamics, leading to insights that will apply in other regions where magnetic reconnection occurs. Science , this issue p. [1391][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aat2998