An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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The region around a celestial body in which the magnetic field of the body dominates the external magnetic field. Each planet with a magnetic field (Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) has a magnetopause. The Earth's magnetosphere is a dynamic system that responds to solar variations. It prevents most of the charged particles carried in the → solar wind, from hitting the Earth. Since the solar wind is → supersonic, a → bow shock is formed on the sunward side of the magnetosphere. The solar wind ahead is deflected at a boundary called → magnetopause. The region between the bow shock and the magnetopause is called the → magnetosheath. As the solar wind sweeps past the Earth, the terrestrial magnetic field lines are stretched out toward the night side to form a → magnetotail.

From → magnet + → sphere.

A dense zone of magnetized → plasma surrounding a → pulsar. The magnetosphere, lying between the surface of the → neutron star and the → light cylinder, corotates with the pulsar like a rigid body under the effect of strong magnetic field. The magnetosphere's thickness is determined by the constraint that the corotation velocity of its upper surface should not exceed the → speed of light.

→ pilsar; → magnetosphere.