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Magnetic Portals Connect Sun and Earth

Posted by Soulskill on from the no-cake-jokes-allowed dept.

MaxwellEdison writes "Scientists have discovered evidence of magnetic portals connecting the Earth and the Sun every 8 minutes. 'Several speakers at the Workshop have outlined how FTEs form: On the dayside of Earth (the side closest to the sun), Earth's magnetic field presses against the sun's magnetic field. Approximately every eight minutes, the two fields briefly merge or "reconnect," forming a portal through which particles can flow. The portal takes the form of a magnetic cylinder about as wide as Earth. The European Space Agency's fleet of four Cluster spacecraft and NASA's five THEMIS probes have flown through and surrounded these cylinders, measuring their dimensions and sensing the particles that shoot through.'"

8 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Another misleading headline by mbone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Magnetic Portals Connect the Solar Wind and the Earth's Magnetosphere" would be much better.

  2. 8 light-minutes by Megahard · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is the Earth-Sun distance. Coincidence?

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    I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
    1. Re:8 light-minutes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is probably some form of resenace effect going on after all magnetic fields propagate at the speed of light so a coincidence seems unlikely.

  3. 8.32 light minutes by Mal-2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is 93 million miles, or 8.32 light minutes, separating Sun and Earth (center to center) -- the magnetosphere will be slightly less. Coincidence? I hope they are investigating some sort of possible resonance or standing wave that is directly related to this distance.

    Mal-2

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    1. Re:8.32 light minutes by NotNormallyNormal · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Unfortunately, this 8 minutes would have nothing to do with the speed of light. The magnetic field emanating from the sun (interplanetary magnetic field) is 'frozen-in' to the plasma streaming out from the sun (solar wind). The solar wind velocity is usually between 300 and 700 km/s - this makes the trip MUCH longer than 8 minutes.

      The frozen-in condition follows from Maxwell's equations. Data from the ACE satellite show this is exactly the case. Therefore, as the solar wind speed increases, the IMF will reach the Earth faster. In the case of major solar events - such as coronal mass ejections (CME) - the solar wind speed is usually very high and we see the effects of the magnetic field and particles about 1 day after the 'light' (X-rays, visible light, etc) reaches the Earth.

  4. Yes, but... by jd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    (a) this is Slashdot, and (b) this is Halloween. How on Earth do you expect to find a sensible summary given a juxtaposition like that?

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  5. (c) Headline too long. by Xenographic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    > (a) this is Slashdot, and (b) this is Halloween. How on Earth do you expect to find a sensible summary given a juxtaposition like that?

    (c) That headline is too long.

    It's (c) that kills a lot of good headlines, honestly, but there's only so much space on the front page for those headlines to fit.

  6. Thanks for straightening this out.. by glitch23 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    for us:

    On the dayside of Earth (the side closest to the sun),

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