... Aurora from Space . ... Magnetic Storms . ... The "ring of fire" seen by satellite cameras around the polar caps (picture below) is probably created by electrons leaking from the tail's plasma sheet, whose magnetic field lines form a somewhat imperfect trap. ... One possible explanation involves the close association between auroral arcs and electric currents which flow along field lines between the ionosphere and distant space ( Birkeland currents ). ... Why no aurora at the magnetic poles? ...

... What are those " magnetic storms " which occasionally disturb the Earth's magnetic field? ... Earth's Core . ... The glow followed magnetic field lines (lines of force) and converged near the magnetic poles of the terrella. ... This suggested that somehow, during storms, a large electric current circled the Earth above its equator. ... In space such currents most easily flow along magnetic field lines, because the particles that carry them (mainly electrons) tend to stay attached to such lines. ...

... NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has detected a long-sought population of comets dwelling at the icy fringe of the solar system . The observation, which is the astronomical equivalent to finding the proverbial needle-in-a-haystack, bolsters proof for a primordial comet reservoir just beyond Neptune , currently the farthest planet from the Sun . ... The comet-disk lies just beyond Neptune and might stretch 500 times farther from the Sun than Earth . ... Comet Introduction Kuiper Belt Objects . ...

Cosmic Research, Vol. 42, No. 5, 2004, pp. 435­488. Translated from Kosmicheskie Issledovaniya, Vol. 42, No. 5, 2004, pp. 453­508. Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by Veselovsky, Panasyuk, Avdyushin, Bazilevskaya, Belov, Bogachev, Bogod, Bogomolov, Bothmer, Boyarchuk, Vashenyuk, Vlasov, Gnezdilov, Gorgutsa, Grechnev, Denisov, Dmitriev, Dryer, Yermolaev, Eroshenko, Zherebtsov, Zhitnik, Zhukov, Zastenker, Zelenyi, Zeldovich, Ivanov-Kholodnyi, Ignat'ev, Ishkov, Kolomiytsev, Krasheninnikov, Kudela,