Flux transfer event

A flux transfer event (FTE) occurs when a magnetic portal opens in the Earth's magnetosphere through which high-energy particles flow from the Sun.

The European Space Agency's four Cluster spacecraft and NASA's five THEMIS probes have flown through and surrounded these FTEs, measuring their dimensions and identifying the particles that are transferred between the magnetic fields.

Approximately every eight minutes, these fields briefly merge, forming a temporary "portal" between the Earth and the Sun through which high-energy particles such as solar wind can flow.

Mercury's proximity to the Sun only accounts for about a third of the reconnection rate observed by MESSENGER and the cause of this discrepancy is not currently known.

The findings prove that at times Saturn "behaves and interacts with the Sun in much the same way as Earth".