Anomalous cosmic rays are particles accelerated at the termination shock. They are anomalous inasmuch as they have a different spectrum to the incredibly high energy cosmic rays that come from outside of the solar system. No-one knew what caused these particles originally so they were labelled "anomalous". In fact the unrolling of the spectrum of the ACRs was critical evidence that we had reached the TS. And I'm not sure what you mean when you say the energetic particles are "coming from somewhere else that we don't know"?
Whilst there's lots about the TS that is suprising and exciting and that we don't understand, it is not quite as mysterious as barawn makes out.
As for Voyager 2 - it has a fully working plasma instrument that will give direct measurements of the plasma temperature, density, pressure, flow speed and so on, something we didn't have for V1. Is was the lack of proper plasma measurements that led to some teams claming V1 had crossed the TS and then recanting these claims.
Firstly you need the 70m dishes of the DSN to communicate with the Voyagers at the current distances. Given the age of these things most of the documentation is printed (and not online), stored in lab books etc, and not formally published. I think it would be an impossible burden to disseminate enough knowledge to get it all working (and I work on the mission!). Even then you need considerable expertise to understand the data from the remaining instruments.
Voyager effectively uses "spare time" on the DSN, although we do still pay for it. Consequently we don't get full coverage but about 12 hours a day, although this varies...
I was at the AGU - it's an extremely broad-ranging conference covering geophysics of all sorts and space and solar physics...
I'm in the space and solar side so we spend our time launching things into space with sodding great rockets. That can't the greenhouse problem much either.
Re:Too bad he used the UN
on
Altered Carbon
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· Score: 4, Interesting
In the book the UN is much weaker than it would wish to appear, where the rich are considerably more powerful and influential and seemingly beyond the UN's grasp.
So if you're going to be naughty remember to be rich too.
Re:Morgan's second book is out! This is Old News?!
on
Altered Carbon
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· Score: 1
Nothing like replying to your own posts... I just saw that the reviewer mentioned the new book at the bottom of his review. So all due credit there then. Splendid.
Morgan's second book is out! This is Old News?!
on
Altered Carbon
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I've just finished Altered Carbon and would highly recommend it. However Morgan's second book is already out (in the UK): Broken Angels. I've already got mine imported from the UK... I guess the reviewer is a whole book behind.
You said that, "Sunspots increase the Sun's magnetic field."
Sunspots are one of many features associated with solar activity - they are a symptom of the changing solar magnetic field, rather than the cause of it. It's a bit like saying that sunburn causes a sunny day, rather than the other way round.
There is a lot of evidence that the solar cycle has an effect on the atmosphere and climate. Saying things like cosmic rays "cool the Earth" or that a lack of them "acts as insulation" is stating the fanciful and the unproved. The link between solar activity and climate is not a new idea, and there is a lot of work already done on more concrete mechanisms. For example, the solar UV radiation (which varies considerably with the solar cycle) effects levels of ozone in the stratosphere.
People in the field are well aware of the effect of the solar cycle and suggesting that their ignorance of this fact has lead to, "predictions about global warming due to the Greenhouse Effect [possibly being] greatly exaggerated" is wrong.
The effect may have been overestimated, but not because the academics forgot about solar activity.
It should be remembered that this paper is about increases in green-house gasses. It doesn't attempt to say they have seen an increase in the Earth's temperatrure.
What happens when you come to demolish the structure? Is this going to be like throwing away a boomerang?
Re:Are the old archives back, though?
on
Deja.com Vu!
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· Score: 1
I think this is an important point. Stuff prior to May 1999 has been 'temporarily' unavailble for a long time now. Then again I wouldn't be sad to see the back of some of my more idealistic posts from my youth.
You missed the best of it pal. They used to (and probably still do) comic 'strips' in the same high-calibre digi-art. I remember dramatic use of BLINKing text was a favourite. That and the occasional use of the ability to REVEAL 'hidden' text/images. Truly stunning.
I remember seeing a TV programme about Minitel when I was at school (i.e. a good few years ago). They were showing the terminals being made, and it was saying what an amazing idea Minitel was.
However the thing that impressed me most was the quality control at the end of the production line, which involved smacking the terminals with a bloody great hammer and seeing if they still worked.
If they followed a similar procedure with the 2CVs I don't think any would make it out of the factory.
I used to spend hours on my Spectrum playing tapes whilst turning the head alignment screw through the tiny hole in the tape deck, waiting for the that perfect 'tinny' tone. I found this worked so much better than bass & treble.
Of course I then got into the ultra-tech age with a microdrive - Sinclair's response to the floppy disc. It contained an endless loop of tape and the cassette was about the size of a matchbox (though just a few mm thick). It worked an absolute treat (most of the time). I've still got it somehwere, along with my interface 1, interface 2, mirage microdriver, currah speech syth, light pen, alphacom 32 thermal printer and a couple of joysticks. I'm filling up just typing about it.
Outside of the magnetosphere of the Earth, there's the Sun's magnetic field (threaded with plasma and called the solar wind) aka Interplanetary Magentic Field (IMF). Beyond that is the interstellar magnetic field. But even Voyager hasn't reached that far yet. Though it probably will soon.
Point being there will always be a B-field around somehwere (albeit very weak).
[Sniff, my first ever post. At last something I think I know about...]
Slashdot Mirror
Anomalous cosmic rays are particles accelerated at the termination shock. They are anomalous inasmuch as they have a different spectrum to the incredibly high energy cosmic rays that come from outside of the solar system. No-one knew what caused these particles originally so they were labelled "anomalous". In fact the unrolling of the spectrum of the ACRs was critical evidence that we had reached the TS. And I'm not sure what you mean when you say the energetic particles are "coming from somewhere else that we don't know"?
Whilst there's lots about the TS that is suprising and exciting and that we don't understand, it is not quite as mysterious as barawn makes out.
As for Voyager 2 - it has a fully working plasma instrument that will give direct measurements of the plasma temperature, density, pressure, flow speed and so on, something we didn't have for V1. Is was the lack of proper plasma measurements that led to some teams claming V1 had crossed the TS and then recanting these claims.
Firstly you need the 70m dishes of the DSN to communicate with the Voyagers at the current distances. Given the age of these things most of the documentation is printed (and not online), stored in lab books etc, and not formally published. I think it would be an impossible burden to disseminate enough knowledge to get it all working (and I work on the mission!). Even then you need considerable expertise to understand the data from the remaining instruments.
Voyager effectively uses "spare time" on the DSN, although we do still pay for it. Consequently we don't get full coverage but about 12 hours a day, although this varies...
Has this just been released in the US? I remember when 'Altered Carbon' was reviewed in Slashdot, this new book was already out in the UK.
For my two penneth - Broken Angels wasn't as good as the first, but an enjoyable change none the less.
I was at the AGU - it's an extremely broad-ranging conference covering geophysics of all sorts and space and solar physics...
I'm in the space and solar side so we spend our time launching things into space with sodding great rockets. That can't the greenhouse problem much either.
In the book the UN is much weaker than it would wish to appear, where the rich are considerably more powerful and influential and seemingly beyond the UN's grasp.
So if you're going to be naughty remember to be rich too.
Nothing like replying to your own posts... I just saw that the reviewer mentioned the new book at the bottom of his review. So all due credit there then. Splendid.
I've just finished Altered Carbon and would highly recommend it. However Morgan's second book is already out (in the UK): Broken Angels. I've already got mine imported from the UK... I guess the reviewer is a whole book behind.
Anyways, have a look at Amazon.co.uk
There is a lot of evidence that the solar cycle has an effect on the atmosphere and climate. Saying things like cosmic rays "cool the Earth" or that a lack of them "acts as insulation" is stating the fanciful and the unproved. The link between solar activity and climate is not a new idea, and there is a lot of work already done on more concrete mechanisms. For example, the solar UV radiation (which varies considerably with the solar cycle) effects levels of ozone in the stratosphere.
People in the field are well aware of the effect of the solar cycle and suggesting that their ignorance of this fact has lead to, "predictions about global warming due to the Greenhouse Effect [possibly being] greatly exaggerated" is wrong. The effect may have been overestimated, but not because the academics forgot about solar activity.
It should be remembered that this paper is about increases in green-house gasses. It doesn't attempt to say they have seen an increase in the Earth's temperatrure.
What happens when you come to demolish the structure? Is this going to be like throwing away a boomerang?
I think this is an important point. Stuff prior to May 1999 has been 'temporarily' unavailble for a long time now. Then again I wouldn't be sad to see the back of some of my more idealistic posts from my youth.
You missed the best of it pal. They used to (and probably still do) comic 'strips' in the same high-calibre digi-art. I remember dramatic use of BLINKing text was a favourite. That and the occasional use of the ability to REVEAL 'hidden' text/images. Truly stunning.
However the thing that impressed me most was the quality control at the end of the production line, which involved smacking the terminals with a bloody great hammer and seeing if they still worked.
If they followed a similar procedure with the 2CVs I don't think any would make it out of the factory.
Of course I then got into the ultra-tech age with a microdrive - Sinclair's response to the floppy disc. It contained an endless loop of tape and the cassette was about the size of a matchbox (though just a few mm thick). It worked an absolute treat (most of the time). I've still got it somehwere, along with my interface 1, interface 2, mirage microdriver, currah speech syth, light pen, alphacom 32 thermal printer and a couple of joysticks.
I'm filling up just typing about it.
Outside of the magnetosphere of the Earth, there's the Sun's magnetic field (threaded with plasma and called the solar wind) aka Interplanetary Magentic Field (IMF). Beyond that is the interstellar magnetic field. But even Voyager hasn't reached that far yet. Though it probably will soon. Point being there will always be a B-field around somehwere (albeit very weak). [Sniff, my first ever post. At last something I think I know about...]