... It was designed to observe the solar wind approaching Earth, from a position near the Lagrangian point L1, and it is part of the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) Initiative . ... The original plan called for "Wind" to approach its final station over two years, undergoing two close encounters with the Moon to boost its speed. ... If however the object is moving , the encounter is not symmetric, and in the end the spacecraft may have gained or lost speed, depending on its trajectory. ...

... The Magnetic Sun . ... Galileo had guessed they were clouds floating in the Sun's atmosphere, obscuring some of its light. ... It turned out that the Sun has a polar field somewhat like the Earth's, but that it reverses its polarity during each 11-year cycle. ... Sunspot fields were evidently produced by electric currents, and it was well known that such currents could be generated by a " dynamo process ," by the motion of an electric conductor (e.g. the flow of solar plasma) through a magnetic...

... Views of Martian Clouds . ... Although not as pronounced as on Earth , clouds are common features on Mars. The Martian atmosphere has only a trace of water vapor; however, the temperature and pressure is such that the atmosphere is usually close to saturation and produces clouds. Even from Earth based telescopes, clouds have been observed by transient brightening on the surface of Mars. ... Lee waves . ... Wave clouds . ... Image Credit: Calvin J. Hamilton) . Lee Wave . ... Wave Clouds . ...

Cosmic Research, Vol. 42, No. 5, 2004, pp. 435­488. Translated from Kosmicheskie Issledovaniya, Vol. 42, No. 5, 2004, pp. 453­508. Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by Veselovsky, Panasyuk, Avdyushin, Bazilevskaya, Belov, Bogachev, Bogod, Bogomolov, Bothmer, Boyarchuk, Vashenyuk, Vlasov, Gnezdilov, Gorgutsa, Grechnev, Denisov, Dmitriev, Dryer, Yermolaev, Eroshenko, Zherebtsov, Zhitnik, Zhukov, Zastenker, Zelenyi, Zeldovich, Ivanov-Kholodnyi, Ignat'ev, Ishkov, Kolomiytsev, Krasheninnikov, Kudela,