Magnetotail

Imagine you are playing with toy cars on a road that has a strong wind blowing in one direction. When you push the car forward, the wind will push it in the opposite direction. Similarly, our big toy car, the Earth, has a wind blowing in the form of electrically charged particles. This wind is called the solar wind, and it comes from the sun.

Now, since the Earth is a big magnet, it attracts these charged particles towards it. Sometimes, these particles enter our atmosphere and create beautiful lights in the sky, called auroras.

But just like the wind can push our toy car back, this solar wind can also push the Earth’s magnetic field away from the sun. This creates a long tail-like shape opposite to the direction from where the solar wind comes. This tail is made of charged particles and is called the magnetotail.

So, to sum it up - the magnetotail is like the tail of a kite, trailing behind the Earth, formed due to the solar wind pushing the Earth’s magnetic field away from the sun.