Space Environment, Nature of The
Near-Earth space is a complex, dynamic environment that affects not just objects in space, but our everyday lives as well. It exists as the interactionof energy and mass from a variety of sources. Earth, with its magnetic field and its atmosphere, interacts with the Sun to form the solar-terrestrial system, which accounts for most of the effects of the near-Earth space environment. Deep space sources (e.g., other stars and galaxies) contribute particle and electromagnetic radiation that also interacts with Earth. Finally, there are solid bodies within and passing through the solar system that can and do interact with Earth. All of these systems affect orbiting artificial satellites and also have more direct effects on life on Earth, right down to the planet's surface.
The Sun's Interactions with Earth
The Sun is the greatest source of energy in the solar system. It drives most of the activity of the near-Earth space environment. Solar energy couples with Earth's atmosphere and surface, giving rise to terrestrial weather. In a similar way, solar radiation interacts with near-Earth space to give rise to space weather. The Sun continuously emits radiation in two primary forms: electromagnetic and particle.
The electromagnetic radiation emitted by the Sun spans the spectrum, from radio waves up through infrared and the visible light wavelengths to the ionizing energies of extreme ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma radiation.
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