Star Trek-like invisible shield found thousands of miles above Earth

colorado.edu ^ | November 26, 2014 | news release

[BenLurkin]

A team led by the University of Colorado Boulder has discovered an invisible shield some 7,200 miles above Earth that blocks so-called “killer electrons,” which whip around the planet at near-light speed and have been known to threaten astronauts, fry satellites and degrade space systems during intense solar storms.

The barrier to the particle motion was discovered in the Van Allen radiation belts, two doughnut-shaped rings above Earth that are filled with high-energy electrons and protons, said Distinguished Professor Daniel Baker, director of CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).

...

The latest mystery revolves around an “extremely sharp” boundary at the inner edge of the outer belt at roughly 7,200 miles in altitude that appears to block the ultrafast electrons from breeching the shield and moving deeper towards Earth’s atmosphere. “It’s almost like theses electrons are running into a glass wall in space,” said Baker, the study’s lead author. “Somewhat like the shields created by force fields on Star Trek that were used to repel alien weapons, we are seeing an invisible shield blocking these electrons. It’s an extremely puzzling phenomenon.” A paper on the subject was published in the Nov. 27 issue of Nature.

[Steve Newton]

Sounds like something God would do

[blackdog]

Well done, Mr. Scott!

[blackdog]

"Sounds like something God would do"

Or Al Gore.........."An Electron Lock Box"

[Mrs. Don-o]

Sounds like our plane was designed with defense-in-depth.

Even an atheist would be tempted to say, "Thank You."

[UCANSEE2]

One day we may actually know enough about the Earth to understand how it works.

[skinkinthegrass]

magnetic field inducted? ..gravity wave?

[Dr. Sivana]

Ahh . . . the firmament.

[no-to-illegals]

WOW ... Invisible yet detectable. All kinds of implications and possible applications once duplicated. These will hold many keys to probable functional applications and apparatuses.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Obama is going to sign an EO to let those little persecuted energetic electrons in. It’s racis’ to deny them the chance to better themselves in the US.

[Justice]

"Sounds like something God would do"

Amen. I thought the same before clicking on the thread.

[stevem]

Just the latest in those myriad once in a billion natural things that, if even one wasn’t there, would mean no life could exist...here or anywhere else.

[DJ MacWoW]

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[Cold Heart]

I think this was covered in Men In Black III

[RetiredTexasVet]

I’m going to go with “dark matter” because it would be invisible (black on black).

[eclecticEel]

No, it really isn’t like Star Trek at all.

[SaxxonWoods]

Accident.

-Atheist.

[Bryanw92]

Thanks be to God.

[JRandomFreeper]

Invisible yet detectable

Air is invisible, yet detectable (LA county not included)

/johnny

[UCANSEE2]