Van Allen Probes

At http://phys.org/print271927309.html … NASA launched twin satellites in August 2012, the Van Allen probes. The idea is to study the magnetosphere and how the solar wind interacts with it. After just 3 months scientists are already excited by the data they have received – papers and publications are in the pipeline. The probes are designed to relay back informatover over the couple of years. Apparently, some solar storms do not effect the magnetosphere at all – and on other occasions they cause the magnetosphere to shrink.