Examining the Location of the Magnetopause in an Undergraduate Lab

TL;DR

This paper presents an undergraduate physics lab where students explore the magnetopause location through simulations and spacecraft data, providing practical exposure to space physics concepts.

Contribution

It introduces a novel lab activity integrating space physics research tools and data analysis for undergraduate students without prior space physics background.

Findings

Students achieve reasonable agreement with model predictions.

The lab enhances understanding of magnetopause physics.

Students gain practical experience with space physics tools.

Abstract

Integrating areas of current research into undergraduate physics labs can be a difficult task. The location of the magnetopause is one problem that can be examined with no prior exposure to space physics. The magnetopause location can be viewed as a pressure balance between the dynamic pressure of the solar wind and the magnetic pressure of the magnetosphere. In this lab sophomore and junior students examine the magnetopause location using simulation results from BATS-R-US global MHD code run at NASA's Community Coordinated Modeling Center. Students also analyze data from several spacecraft to find magnetopause crossings. The students get reasonable agreement between their results and model predictions from this lab as well as exposure to the tools and techniques of space physics.