
Britain to lose Northern Lights due to solar winds of change - upen
http://sciencebulletin.org/archives/9974.html
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basicplus2
This article does not read quite right, the earths protection is from its
magnetic field not from the solar winds, indeed the earths magnetic field
protects the earth from the solar winds.

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qbrass
It's both.

Planets without a magnetic field like Venus still have a magnetosphere caused
by the planet moving through the solar winds. Basically the charged particles
of the solar winds hit the planet, causing a difference in potential between
the sunward face of the planet and the path it just made through the solar
winds.

Since Earth has it's own magnetosphere, the solar winds are an added bonus.
What this article is saying is that since there's a lull in solar activity to
keep the charge up, this extra protection won't be there if we hit a solar
flare.

