ESA's Cluster Spacecraft Makes Shocking Discovery

A recent observation by the ESA's Cluster Spacecraft was able to finally prove a 20-year-old theory. "On 24 January 2001, the four Cluster spacecraft were flying at an approximate altitude of 105 000 kilometres, in tetrahedron formation. Each spacecraft was separated from the others by a distance of about 600 kilometres. With such a distance between them, as they approached the bow shock, scientists expected that every spacecraft would record a similar signature of the passage through this region. Instead, the readings they got were highly contradictory. They showed large fluctuations in the magnetic and electric field surrounding each spacecraft. They also revealed marked variations in the number of solar wind protons that were reflected by the shock and streaming back to Sun."

Comments

Long-delayed echoes and magnetosphere shock waves?

[Bruce Perens]

Could a solar near-magnetosphere bow-shock wave be the cause of long-delayed echoes? These are echoes of radio signals that are no multiple of the distances to likely objects. The average ham who is active on HF hears about one a year.

Bruce

Re:Long-delayed echoes and magnetosphere shock wav

[i_like_spam]

Why is this discovery so shocking if there is a 20-year-old theory that explains the observations?

Usually the most shocking discoveries are the ones not described by any theories.

Re:Long-delayed echoes and magnetosphere shock wav

[bplipschitz]

The average ham who is active on HF hears about one a year. I'm an average ham. I'm active on HF. I've been on the air for almost 20 years. I've never heard one. I've read about them, but I've never heard one.