Tag Archives: Earth’s magnetotail

We’ve been to the moon. Driven around, even hit golfballs. Been there, done that. Faced with the prospect of returning, and setting up a permanent outpost, however, NASA is studying the place all over again and finding things never imagined. Moondust, for instance. It made a mess of the Apollo astronauts, clinging to their spacesuits and their equipment. Now there’s speculation that it could even be electrifying, at least during a full moon. That’s when the moon flies through the tail of Earth’s magnetic bubble. None of the Apollo landings took place during a full moon, so no one knows for sure, but future explorers may need to ground themselves against a shocking experience, at least once a month.