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A Giant Breach in Earth's Magnetic Field
NASA ^ | Dec 16th, 2008

Posted on 12/16/2008 2:11:19 PM PST by TaraP

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."

The opening was huge—four times wider than Earth itself," says Wenhui Li, a space physicist at the University of New Hampshire who has been analyzing the data. Li's colleague Jimmy Raeder, also of New Hampshire, says "1027 particles per second were flowing into the magnetosphere—that's a 1 followed by 27 zeros. This kind of influx is an order of magnitude greater than what we thought was possible."

The event began with little warning when a gentle gust of solar wind delivered a bundle of magnetic fields from the Sun to Earth. Like an octopus wrapping its tentacles around a big clam, solar magnetic fields draped themselves around the magnetosphere and cracked it open. The cracking was accomplished by means of a process called "magnetic reconnection." High above Earth's poles, solar and terrestrial magnetic fields linked up (reconnected) to form conduits for solar wind. Conduits over the Arctic and Antarctic quickly expanded; within minutes they overlapped over Earth's equator to create the biggest magnetic breach ever recorded by Earth-orbiting spacecraft.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: astrophysics; aurora; bushsfault; catastrophism; magnetosphere; nasa; physics
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1 posted on 12/16/2008 2:11:19 PM PST by TaraP
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To: TaraP

So this explains why the American people lost their minds and elected Barack Hussein Obama?


2 posted on 12/16/2008 2:12:28 PM PST by Paige ("All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing," Edmund Burke)
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To: TaraP

3 posted on 12/16/2008 2:12:28 PM PST by TaraP (The RAPTURE: Seperation of Church and State)
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To: TaraP

Can Obama part the solar sea, too?


4 posted on 12/16/2008 2:12:42 PM PST by RaceBannon (We have sown the wind, but we will reap the whirlwind. NObama. Not my president.)
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To: TaraP

Are we gonna die ?


5 posted on 12/16/2008 2:12:48 PM PST by Kimmers
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To: TaraP

Does this mean we all die?
Please let it be so.


6 posted on 12/16/2008 2:12:56 PM PST by Hans
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To: TaraP

ping


7 posted on 12/16/2008 2:12:58 PM PST by unkus
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To: TaraP
Bush's fault!©
8 posted on 12/16/2008 2:13:03 PM PST by Paleo Conservative (Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.)
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To: Paige

maybe those tin foil hats WOULD have worked this time...


9 posted on 12/16/2008 2:13:10 PM PST by RaceBannon (We have sown the wind, but we will reap the whirlwind. NObama. Not my president.)
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To: TaraP
Isn't it amazing how these academics who think they know all the answers are constantly surprised by how the world really works?

"Don't put my faith in nobody, not even a scientist"--Bob Dylan

10 posted on 12/16/2008 2:13:37 PM PST by Recovering_Democrat
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To: TaraP

hmmm


11 posted on 12/16/2008 2:13:43 PM PST by griswold3
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To: All

Here is why they can’t believe their ears: The solar wind presses against Earth’s magnetosphere almost directly above the equator where our planet’s magnetic field points north. Suppose a bundle of solar magnetism comes along, and it points north, too. The two fields should reinforce one another, strengthening Earth’s magnetic defenses and slamming the door shut on the solar wind. In the language of space physics, a north-pointing solar magnetic field is called a “northern IMF” and it is synonymous with shields up!

“So, you can imagine our surprise when a northern IMF came along and shields went down instead,” says Sibeck. “This completely overturns our understanding of things.”

Northern IMF events don’t actually trigger geomagnetic storms, notes Raeder, but they do set the stage for storms by loading the magnetosphere with plasma. A loaded magnetosphere is primed for auroras, power outages, and other disturbances that can result when, say, a CME (coronal mass ejection) hits.


12 posted on 12/16/2008 2:13:55 PM PST by TaraP (The RAPTURE: Seperation of Church and State)
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To: Paleo Conservative

“Bush’s fault!©”

And Gorebull warming.


13 posted on 12/16/2008 2:14:36 PM PST by MPJackal ("From my cold dead hands.")
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To: TaraP

Betting the “breach” is normal, based on the solar cycle. Gives the earth time to charge it’s batteries for the next solar cycle onslaught.


14 posted on 12/16/2008 2:14:40 PM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: Kimmers

Yes


15 posted on 12/16/2008 2:14:44 PM PST by mnehring
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To: TaraP

Give em a day or so and they’ll figure out what calamity this will cause, how much to tax us to prevent it, and which magnets need to be banned.


16 posted on 12/16/2008 2:15:10 PM PST by Domandred (Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.)
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To: Paige

ROFLMTO...that is just too funny!!


17 posted on 12/16/2008 2:15:12 PM PST by Kackikat (.It's NOT over until it's over and it's NOT over yet....The Trumpet will sound....)
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To: TaraP
Jeeze! you forget to turn off one HAARP installation and everybody goes nuts. Ok, ok... I'll turn it off.

/johnny

18 posted on 12/16/2008 2:15:27 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (God Bless us all, each, and every one.)
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To: RaceBannon
maybe those tin foil hats WOULD have worked this time...

Would be a freaky science fiction novel, breach in the magnetic field, the only survivors on the planet are a dozen or so Ron Paul supporters wearing tin foil hats.

19 posted on 12/16/2008 2:15:40 PM PST by mnehring
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To: TaraP

Danger Will Robinson Danger bla bla bla......


20 posted on 12/16/2008 2:15:41 PM PST by PEACE ENFORCER (One Needs to Have the Capability of Using Deadly Force at Any Moment.....:))
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