Figure 9-19: Earth’s Magnetosphere Earth’s magnetic field carves out a cavity in the solar wind, shown here in cross section. A shock wave marks the boundary where the supersonic solar wind is abruptly slowed to subsonic speeds. Most of the particles of the solar wind are deflected around Earth in a turbulent region (colored blue in this drawing). Earth’s magnetic field also traps some charged particles in two huge, doughnut-shaped rings called the Van Allen belts (shown in red). This figure shows only a slice through the Van Allen belts.