Earth's Magnetosphere The comet-shaped region called the magnetosphere has some distinct regions that vary greatly depending on solar activity such as Coronal Mass Ejections - the hurricanes of space weather. Bow Shock - The region in front of Earth's magnetosphere where the solar wind is slowed down and heated. Auroral Oval - The ring-shaped belts of auroral activity around the north and south magnetic poles. Magnetotail - The extended magnetic field region on the nightside that's drawn out by the solar wind flowing past Earth. Radiation Belts - The region of high energy charged particles that are trapped by Earth's magnetic field. These regions are labeled in the figure above. Radiation belts circle the planet Earth is constantly bombarded by dangerous high-energy particles from the Sun, not to mention cosmic rays from outside our Solar System. How have we survived? Luckily, more than 98% of the particles bounce off Earth’s magnetic field. Most of the rest of the particles get trapped in two doughnut-shaped belts surrounding Earth. The Van Allen radiation belts were the first major discovery of the Space Age.