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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.'"

17 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Well-done, NASA! by TrekkieTechie · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now you're thinking with portals!

    1. Re:Well-done, NASA! by tcolberg · · Score: 5, Funny

      Speedy solar particles go in, speedy solar particles come out!

    2. Re:Well-done, NASA! by Glyphstream · · Score: 5, Funny

      Congratulations. You euthanized your NASA test module more quickly than any test subject on record.

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

    Is the Earth-Sun distance. Coincidence?

    --
    I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
  3. The Summary by sokoban · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is a lie.

    --
    09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is the magic number.
  4. THEMIS Probes by sokoban · · Score: 5, Funny

    Naw them ain't probes, them is aliens.

    --
    09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is the magic number.
  5. STARGATE!!!! by Macrat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now we just need to find Daniel Jackson.

  6. Learn something new every day by Quarters · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    Really? How fascinating!

    1. Re:Learn something new every day by TenDollarMan · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm from the day side of the earth and am really getting a kick out of these replies.

      --
      I hate my flatmate
    2. Re:Learn something new every day by lysergic.acid · · Score: 5, Interesting

      we, the people of the night side of earth, object to the hotheaded policies of the day side government. despite all of your anti-nighttime propaganda, your DST ploy to temporally encroach on our borders is plain to see. thus you have broken the circadian treaty that has kept peace between our two nations. we will not stand for this diurnal threat to our coolheaded & peace-loving society.

      we declare war on the heathen sun-worshipers to, once and for all, bring an end to their sidereal tyranny. the crepuscular revolution has begun!

  7. Aurora Borealis? by collywally · · Score: 5, Interesting

    FTA:
    "the cylindrical portals tend to form above Earth's equator and then roll over Earth's winter pole"

    I wonder if that's why the aurora borealis seems to crawl across the sky. I seem to remember (from when I lived in the high north) that it happened in fairly regular intervals. The "every eight minuets" seems to ring true as the time between each pass of the light though I haven't been there in eight years so I might just be remembering it wrong.

  8. 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

    --
    How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
  9. I'll elaborate for you by apparently · · Score: 5, Funny

    O <-- this is the sun.

    WHOOSH <-- this is the WHOOSH going over your head.
    . <-- you.
    o <-- this is the earth.

  10. Planets Aligned by Dersaidin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So something cool might actually happen when all the planets are aligned? Portal from Sun to Neptune?

  11. Re:Who tagged "!ipods"? by denzacar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well... it is true at least, right?

    Lets add other fun !-tags.

    Lets see... !aardvark, !aardwolf, !aargau, !aare, !aaron, !aascu...

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  12. The explanation is a lie by tepples · · Score: 5, Informative

    This article is about magnetic portals. Portal is also the title of a first-person adventure game for PC developed and published by Valve. One of the catchphrases from Portal is "The cake is a lie!", hence sokoban's comment "The summary is a lie".

  13. Re:Another misleading headline by strider200142 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sorry, headline is correct. The Earth's magnetic field lines and the Sun's field lines are connecting every 8 minutes. The fact that they connect allows a stream of the solar wind into the Earth's magnetosphere and/or atmosphere. The article clearly states that the magnetic field of the sun and the earth become coupled every 8 minutes. Since this is an article posted on nasa.gov I'd like to assume that it isn't just another example of bad science journalism. Especially since it makes sense ;)