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Scientists Find Hole In Earth's Magnetic Field
Velorium writes "The Earth's magnetic field has been found to have two large holes that are making Earth's surface vulnerable to solar winds. Despite what scientists originally thought, these holes allow 20 times the normal amount of solar particles through when they are facing away from the sun. This is the opposite of what the scientists had first speculated."
...as the demand for tinfoil hats reaches an all-time high.
A bright shaft of light is going to sneak through the hole in the field and melt the Golden Gate Bridge. Just you wait.
At least we can be safe at night. ...Probably...
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
If global warming is presumably caused by SUVs, what are holes in the magnetic field caused by? Too many cell phones?
The results of a runaway experiment after "Bring your daughter to work day" at Aperture Science?
I left my ACME Megalaser of Doom plugged in overnight, on the 'degaussing' setting. Honestly, I thought it was just on 'charge'.
Awfully sorry. It won't happen again. Promise.
"Three eyes are better than one" -- Lieutenant Columbo
There's a hole in the Mag Field dear Liza, a hole.
So fix it dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
So fix it dear Henry, dear Henry, FIX IT,
With what should I fix it, dear Liza dear Liza,
With what should I fix it, dear Liza with what?
With a Greenie, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
With a Greenie, dear Henry, dear Henry, with Greenie's (sigh),
Regards
Slashdot Girl
The more I know, the less I know
Hrm... tinfoil might not be good enough... might even be counter productive. The high energy particles that smack into something in the tin foil would probably generate a spray of secondary particles, all of which would be more likely to smack into something in your brain than the original particle (which would be more likely to pass right through your "me-jelly").
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Like when you want to post to Slashdot, but all you have is a Nomad.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
...before the LHC "we see nothing". And now, after the LHC was turned on... "oh, look at the too shiny two holes!" - coincidence?
Were the Mayans correct in predicting the world's end for 2012?
Quote from TFA:
"Understanding how these holes form will help them better predict the electrical storms that cause power grid blackouts and the aurora, activity that will peak in 2012 as sunspots hit their maximum level."
Please God let Diablo III come out before then.
Apparently the holes let "first post"-ers through as well.
Physics.
These aren't unusual, new, or different in any way to what has always happened. Despite the alarmist summary, the point of the article was that more particles sneak through the magnetosphere when the fields of the sun and earth are aligned (opposite to what was believed) and that we had a satellite in the right place to watch this happening.
No, we didn't cause it. Yes, it's always been happening, but yes we always knew about it. We just had one of the details backwards - more particles get through when the sun and earth fields are aligned rather than opposite, as was previously believed.
No, it doesn't affect climate change. The repercussions is that the poles get aurorae (revolutionary, I know, particularly as I grew up under them), and that if we get a really bad solar storm with the right conditions it can be bad for the power grid. As has been dramatically demonstrated several times ever since we started building power grids.
"The Earth's magnetic field has been found to have two large holes that are making Earth's surface vulnerable to solar winds"
I am wondering what is between the two large holes?
A region of the earth known as the magnetic perineum.
Perhaps the Earth's magnetic poles are about to flip.
Supposedly it won't kill us all....
Apparently submitted by the department of redundancy department apparently, the problem is that's not what the article actually says.
It the alignment of the fields North-to-South being discussed and nightside effects are not explicitly discussed. Some clarification by a physicist would seem in order.
Notmysig
George Bush. Everything is his fault.
Expect the holes to start closing in about five weeks.
Exactly. The article subject is totally utterly incorect - we have known that Earth's magnetic field has two holes on each pole for decades. It's the very reason that causes Aurora Borealis or the northen lights. Here in Northern Europe, which is famous for the display of colorful northern lights, it's actually part of the school curriculum to teach children what physically causes this effect, and even my little brother can tell you that Earth's magnetic field has two huge holes around the poles. The NASA article is about the effects these sun wind particles have on Earth's biosphere.