Zeuzzz
21st December 2008, 08:59 PM
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/16dec_giantbreach.htm
Dec. 16, 2008: NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to "load up" the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms. But the breach itself is not the biggest surprise. Researchers are even more amazed at the strange and unexpected way it forms, overturning long-held ideas of space physics.
"At first I didn't believe it," says THEMIS project scientist David Sibeck of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "This finding fundamentally alters our understanding of the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction."
Public nasa image:
http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/22201494f16e975a8e.jpg
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/081216-agu-solar-storm-shield-break.html
Scientists have found two large leaks in Earth's magnetosphere, the region around our planet that shields us from severe solar storms.
The leaks are defying many of scientists' previous ideas on how the interaction between Earth's magnetosphere and solar wind occurs: The leaks are in an unexpected location, let in solar particles in faster than expected and the whole interaction works in a manner that is completely the opposite of what scientists had thought.
The findings have implications for how solar storms affect the our planet. Serious storms, which involved charged particles spewing from the sun, can disable satellites and even disrupt power grids on Earth.
The new observations "overturn the way that we understand how the sun's magnetic field interacts with the Earth's magnetic field," said David Sibeck of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., during a press conference today at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
The bottom line: When the next peak of solar activity comes, in about 4 years, electrical systems on Earth and satellites in space may be more vulnerable.
Any takers on a possible cause? Seems the interactions of the suns EM field and the Earths is not as well understood as some would make out. I wonder if this is related to the immense birkeland currents of 106 amps found connecting the sun to the Earth. Maybe a change in morphology of the current systems between the sun and Earth has caused an explosive circuit break, or rather a transient exploding double layer and build up of charge in the solar plasma, which drastically effected the structure of the surrounding magnetic/electric field.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/30oct_ftes.htm
Magnetic Portals Connect Sun and Earth
Oct. 30, 2008: During the time it takes you to read this article, something will happen high overhead that until recently many scientists didn't believe in. A magnetic portal will open, linking Earth to the sun 93 million miles away. Tons of high-energy particles may flow through the opening before it closes again, around the time you reach the end of the page.
"It's called a flux transfer event or 'FTE,'" says space physicist David Sibeck of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "Ten years ago I was pretty sure they didn't exist, but now the evidence is incontrovertible."
Indeed, today Sibeck is telling an international assembly of space physicists at the 2008 Plasma Workshop in Huntsville, Alabama, that FTEs are not just common, but possibly twice as common as anyone had ever imagined.
"something will happen high overhead that until recently many scientists didn't believe in."
Well, I know some scientists that did believe in them. And have for a long time. But lets not go there.
I dont know why they persist in calling them flux transfer events, the cylindrical filamentary helical structure of birkeland currents have been known for decades now, might aswell just call them that instead of flux tubes, or magnegtic ropes, or Magnetic Portals, or stringy thingies.
My guess would be that rather than a change in the current systems of the birkeland filaments between the Sun and the Earth, this may act as further evidence for the far larger, and somewhat illusive, heliospheric current circuit (http://www.plasma-universe.com/index.php/Heliospheric_current_circuit) that flows into the sun, which according to calculations derived from the observed heliospheric current sheet is in the order of 109 Amps, so may explain why this effect was so many magnitudes greater than previously thought possible. An interaction between a current that size and the Earths magnetic field would be more than capable of creating a very substantial change in structure.
Dec. 16, 2008: NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to "load up" the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms. But the breach itself is not the biggest surprise. Researchers are even more amazed at the strange and unexpected way it forms, overturning long-held ideas of space physics.
"At first I didn't believe it," says THEMIS project scientist David Sibeck of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "This finding fundamentally alters our understanding of the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction."
Public nasa image:
http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/22201494f16e975a8e.jpg
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/081216-agu-solar-storm-shield-break.html
Scientists have found two large leaks in Earth's magnetosphere, the region around our planet that shields us from severe solar storms.
The leaks are defying many of scientists' previous ideas on how the interaction between Earth's magnetosphere and solar wind occurs: The leaks are in an unexpected location, let in solar particles in faster than expected and the whole interaction works in a manner that is completely the opposite of what scientists had thought.
The findings have implications for how solar storms affect the our planet. Serious storms, which involved charged particles spewing from the sun, can disable satellites and even disrupt power grids on Earth.
The new observations "overturn the way that we understand how the sun's magnetic field interacts with the Earth's magnetic field," said David Sibeck of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., during a press conference today at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
The bottom line: When the next peak of solar activity comes, in about 4 years, electrical systems on Earth and satellites in space may be more vulnerable.
Any takers on a possible cause? Seems the interactions of the suns EM field and the Earths is not as well understood as some would make out. I wonder if this is related to the immense birkeland currents of 106 amps found connecting the sun to the Earth. Maybe a change in morphology of the current systems between the sun and Earth has caused an explosive circuit break, or rather a transient exploding double layer and build up of charge in the solar plasma, which drastically effected the structure of the surrounding magnetic/electric field.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/30oct_ftes.htm
Magnetic Portals Connect Sun and Earth
Oct. 30, 2008: During the time it takes you to read this article, something will happen high overhead that until recently many scientists didn't believe in. A magnetic portal will open, linking Earth to the sun 93 million miles away. Tons of high-energy particles may flow through the opening before it closes again, around the time you reach the end of the page.
"It's called a flux transfer event or 'FTE,'" says space physicist David Sibeck of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "Ten years ago I was pretty sure they didn't exist, but now the evidence is incontrovertible."
Indeed, today Sibeck is telling an international assembly of space physicists at the 2008 Plasma Workshop in Huntsville, Alabama, that FTEs are not just common, but possibly twice as common as anyone had ever imagined.
"something will happen high overhead that until recently many scientists didn't believe in."
Well, I know some scientists that did believe in them. And have for a long time. But lets not go there.
I dont know why they persist in calling them flux transfer events, the cylindrical filamentary helical structure of birkeland currents have been known for decades now, might aswell just call them that instead of flux tubes, or magnegtic ropes, or Magnetic Portals, or stringy thingies.
My guess would be that rather than a change in the current systems of the birkeland filaments between the Sun and the Earth, this may act as further evidence for the far larger, and somewhat illusive, heliospheric current circuit (http://www.plasma-universe.com/index.php/Heliospheric_current_circuit) that flows into the sun, which according to calculations derived from the observed heliospheric current sheet is in the order of 109 Amps, so may explain why this effect was so many magnitudes greater than previously thought possible. An interaction between a current that size and the Earths magnetic field would be more than capable of creating a very substantial change in structure.