This image is a summary of the main features of the plasmasphere: the plasmapause, main body of the plasmasphere, dusk-bulge region and detached plasma regions outside the main body of the plasmasphere
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The Earth's Plasmasphere

You may have heard your teacher talk about the 4 states of matter. Do you remember what they are? Solids (like your desk), liquids (like the milk you pour in your cereal), gases (like the air you blow into a balloon) and...plasma!

The Earth is actually surrounded by plasma! If you look at the picture to the left, the blue ring is all plasma. It's like the Earth is surrounded by an inner tube made up of plasma...or maybe you'd like to call it a plasma donut. Scientists have a big word for this inner tube or plamsa donut - the plasmasphere.

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Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA