"Today the human race is a single twig on the tree of life, a single species on a single planet. Our condition can thus only be described as extremely fragile, endangered by forces of nature currently beyond our control, our own mistakes, and other branches of the wildly blossoming tree itself. Looked at this way, we can then pose the question of the future of humanity on Earth, in the solar system, and in the galaxy from the standpoint of both evolutionary biology and human nature. The conclusion is straightforward: Our choice is to grow, branch, spread and develop, or stagnate and die." Robert Zubrin, Entering Space, 1999
If you wish to see an idealized version (without the influence of the solar wind), you can use Celestia with the magnetic field add-on. The basic program can be found at http://www.shatters.net/celestia and the addon at http://www.celestiamotherlode.com. There are a couple of tweaks to the add-on that allow you to show (or not) various field lines and particle pathways.
Regards,
Eric Pyle
---- Original message ----
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2008 12:13:30 -0800
From: Tom-Pierre Frappé <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: good visualizations of the Earth's magnetic field?
To: [log in to unmask]
>Hi all,
>
>I am teaching an online course ( university level, 3rd year). My
>students are having a lot of difficulty visualizing the geomagnetic
>field, and making sense of how the declination/inclination changes
>spatially.
>
>Does anyone knows of good online visualization for the magnetic field of
>the Earth?
>
>3D would be best, and interactive simulations would be ideal, but I
>might be wishing for the moon... you can email me your suggestions off
>list, I'll compile them and send a summary back to the list-serve.
>
>many thanks for your suggestions!
>Tom-Pierre
>
>--
>Tom-Pierre Frappé
>EOS-Science Education Initiative / ECAC & EOSC114 Administrator
>Dept. Earth and Ocean Sciences
>University of British Columbia
>6339 Stores Road
>Vancouver, B.C.
>V6T 1Z4, Canada
>
>Phone:(604)822-3063
>fax: (604)822-6047
>[log in to unmask]
>
>