centripetal force of Earth's rotation gravitational attraction between Earth and the Sun solar winds bringing high-energy particles toward Earth differences in the distance between Earth and the Sun during Earth's orbit
I gave my students this multiple choice question: Earth's magnetosphere is not uniformly shaped. It is compressed on the side facing the Sun and has a long tail extending away from the Sun. Which phenomenon is responsible for this shape?

Only one answer is correct among these 4 choices:
- centripetal force of Earth's rotation
- gravitational attraction between Earth and the Sun
- solar winds bringing high-energy particles toward Earth
- differences in the distance between Earth and the Sun during Earth's orbit

Could you tell me which one is correct?

solar winds bringing high-energy particles toward Earth