# Help: 3D visualization of magnetic field around moving point charge

The diagrams I'm able to find online only show the concentric field lines in the particle's plane, perpendicular to the motion, which of course generalizes to the cylindrical shape around a conductor. Can someone share a nice representation of the three-dimensional magnetic field all around a moving point charge?

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How fast is it moving compared to $c$? –  ja72 Nov 17 '12 at 1:58
If it makes much difference, suppose two speeds: one slow, and one that is a significant fraction of c. –  Kaz Nov 21 '12 at 0:21

I highly recommend you look at the VPython programming environment. You can get it free for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Then go to this page on the Matter & Interactions support site and get the file named 21_B_movingproton.py and run it in VPython. Note that this particular program uses a relativistic field transformation to calculate the moving proton's magnetic field. If you want it, I'll post a similar program that calculates the moving proton's magnetic field from the Biot-Savart law.