Becky, how do you think you'd feel if someone was like, you're a captain of a ship, off you go? Jupiter's magnetic field is one of those unexplained mysteries. Did either of you have any luck seeing the Perseid's meteor shower in August? I can't say the word anomaly. Anomomomomily. We've got our magnetic field, but there's also something called the magnetosphere. If I need the loo at 5am, I'm like, oh, where's a riot?

How did we ever get to the centre of Earth?

Hello, welcome to the supermassive podcast from the Royal Astronomical Society,

with me, astrophysicist, Dr Becky Setherst, and science journalist Izzy Clark.

Izzy, what's new this week

for you? Literally nothing. Yeah, that sounds about right. Such an exciting life indeed. So shall we

get into it then? You know, they're distracted with science. Yeah, absolutely. This month, we're making

our way down to the Earth's core and exploring the

importance of our magnetic field. Plus, astronomer Robert Massey will be telling us what to keep an

eye out for in the night skies this month. Hi, Robert. There is some jargon that's often thrown

about with this topic. So we've got our magnetic field, but there's also something called the

magnetosphere. So can you tell me what's the difference between the two? Yeah, I mean, the magnetic

field is the, it's the magnetic field generated by the earth when we're talking about this topic.

And the magnetosphere is the region that extends out into space. So you have to imagine these magnetic

fields, they're not, they're not discreet. We think of them as like lines, you know, if you think of bar magnets and iron filings, you throw on a magnet school and so on. But actually, it extends way out into space. And the magnetosphere is the region that the Earth's magnetic field influences a quite a long way actually, I think hundreds of times the radius of the Earth away from the

sun and about 10 times the radius of the Earth towards the sun. So it's a really, really big region of space. Does that even encompass the moon, Robert? I'm trying to work out those numbers in my head at the minute. It's certainly on the side away from the sun it does. So the moon is very much moving within the Earth's magnetosphere. And if you think of other planets like Jupiter and so on, they're absolutely vast. I think Jupiter's magnetosphere even extends as far as Saturn. So these are really, really enormous regions of space. And, you know, that's why there's, I know we covered this in a different episode, but it's why things like space weather are so important. Because you're talking about the area that all the satellites move in as well. Yeah, I like how you said it's on the side that's not facing the sun. I guess I like to picture it as sort of like a comet in that same regard as sort of this big magnetic tail just sort of streaking out. I think that's exactly what it looks like. Well, it doesn't look like anything because we can't see it in a sense. But it is this thing that's stretching out the wind from the sun,

which is itself carrying a magnetic field because it's moving electric particles, pushes on

hours and blows it back. And that's where you get this wonderful effect. And it is related. I mean,

that solar wind is what drives comet tails as well. So there is a connection to that. And it's

not surprising, I guess, that they have that

similar shape. So yeah, magnetosphere anyway is much, much bigger than what you think of as the

sort of region affecting compasses on the surface of the Earth. Cheers, Robert. Well, we'll catch up with you

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