You’d think the science on the Van Allen Radiation belts was long ago considered “settled science”. Nope. And yet, while we discover new things like this, some insist we fully understand all aspects of the workings of Earth’s climate.
Instruments detect never-before-seen phenomenon in Earth’s Magnetosphere
The belts are a pair of donut shaped zones of charged particles that surround Earth and occupy the inner region of our planet’s Magnetosphere.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., March 1, 2013—U.S. researchers, including a trio from Los Alamos National Laboratory, have witnessed the mysterious appearance of a relatively long-lived zone of high-energy electrons stored between Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts.
The surprising findings, discovered by NASA’s Van Allen Probes (formerly known as the Radiation Belt Storm Probes), were outlined Thursday in Science Express and during a press conference at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. The research was led by Dan Baker of the University of Colorado, Boulder, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.
“Nature keeps on surprising us by producing long-lived harsh environments in space in regions not previously considered,” said Los Alamos plasma physicist Reiner Friedel of LANL’s Intelligence and Space Research Division. “This finding may impact the planning of future space missions.”
The Van Allen radiation belts — named in honor James Van Allen, who discovered them nearly 50 years ago — are a pair of donut shaped zones of charged particles that surround Earth and occupy the inner region of our planet’s Magnetosphere. The outer belt contains extremely high-energy electrons, while the inner belt is comprised of energetic protons and electrons. The belts have been studied extensively since the dawn of the Space Age, because the high-energy particles in the outer ring can cripple or disrupt spacecraft. Long-term observation of the belts have hinted that the belts can act as efficient and powerful particle accelerators; the recent observations by the Van Allen Probes—a pair of spacecraft launched in August 2012—now seem to confirm this.
Shortly after launch, the spacecraft activated their Relativistic Electron-Proton Telescope (REPT) instruments to measure particles within the belts and their immediate environs. The instrument immediately detected on September 1, 2012, the presence of a stable zone of high-energy electrons residing between the belts. This donut-shaped third ring nestled between the belts existed for nearly a month before being obliterated by a powerful shockwave of particles emanating from center of the solar system.
Such a distinct, long-lasting ring of high-energy electrons had never before been seen by any prior instrument in space or on Earth. The findings suggest that the Van Allen Belts somehow capture and store energetic electrons in a circular path around our home planet, perhaps in much the same way as a cyclotron can capture and store charged particles here on Earth.
“One of the main reasons the Van Allen Probe instruments are seeing these new features are their unprecedented sensitivity and rejection of backgrounds,” Friedel said. “As the mission proceeds, we expect further surprises that will challenge our conventional wisdom on the transport, loss and energization processes in these highly energetic electron radiation regions.”
In addition to Friedel, Los Alamos research team members include Geoffrey D. Reeves and Michael G. Henderson. The research team is also represented by the Goddard Space Flight Center, University of New Hampshire, The Southwest Research Institute, Dartmouth College, the University of California—Los Angeles, University of Iowa, and The Aerospace Corporation.
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O/T – or not?
According to quantum mechanics, until you actually look inside the box, both possibilities are true. The particle has both decayed and not decayed; the vial is both smashed and intact; and the cat is both alive and dead.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/03/04/canadian-researchers-take-a-sneak-peek-at-schrodingers-cat-and-a-step-toward-a-quantum-computer/
What force holds atoms together ?
Wiki:
The weaponeers became quite worried when three satellites in low earth orbit were disabled. These man-made radiation belts eventually crippled one-third of all satellites in low earth orbit. Seven satellites failed over the months following the test as radiation damaged their solar arrays or electronics, including the first commercial relay communication satellite, Telstar.[12][13][14] Detectors on Telstar, TRAAC, Injun, and Ariel 1 were used to measure distribution of the radiation produced by the tests.[15]
In 1963, Brown et al. reported in the Journal of Geophysical Research that Starfish Prime had created a belt of MeV electrons,[16] and Wilmot Hess reported in 1968 that some Starfish electrons remained for five years
Perhaps not evidence of an Electric Universe but it does give me a tingle down my leg. 🙂
Where is Testla when you need him. 😉
Alfred
This donut-shaped third ring nestled between the belts existed for nearly a month before being obliterated by a powerful shockwave of particles emanating from center of the solar system.
That’s interesting. I thought everything outside of our rock was “constant”.
Nicola Tesla.
@Keith., who wrote: “Mathematics invents really stupid things that any logical thinking person can understand are not real, like black holes and neutron stars.”
Sorry, guy. I have worked many years on neutron stars. They have been photographed and their masses and rotation rates measured. Their sizes and surface gravitational redshifts accord with computations using the experimentally determined neutron equation of state. They are as real as your face. Black holes, on the other hand are the bastard offspring of the union of newtonian gravity and relativity. There is absolutely no doubt that massive astronomical objects compact enough to be black holes exist. But there are no observations that can distinguish them from other exotic model objects that would be compact enough to significantly warp spacetime. They are the CAGW of astrophysics. Honest science would drop the NASA hype and call them black hole candidates until they are shown to possess the characteristics of Schwarzschild or Kerr geometry.
vukcevic says:
March 4, 2013 at 1:36 pm
so if there is permanent strong Sun-Jupiter electric current / magnetic field link and the Earth got caught in it, there should be another ‘appearance’ some 13 months later i.e. in October 2013.
But since there is no such link, nothing will happen [and it should happen only then and not at times where there is no lineup]. But, as a prediction, you post is significant. But in keeping with the scientific method, if nothing happens, you must drop the idea. Conversely if shown correct.
Tom says:
March 4, 2013 at 1:45 pm
although it`s obviously off-topic, I find the attempt to censor ideas in the comments section a step in the wrong direction.
There is a difference between plausible ideas and simple nonsense.
Jim Cripwell says:
March 4, 2013 at 1:46 pm
Orginally the Van Allen belts were called the Heavyside Layer (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats). The were studied extensively well before WWII. I suggest that the period over which studies,exist is around 100 years.
No, you are confusing them with the layers in the ionosphere.
tallbloke says:
March 4, 2013 at 1:50 pm
Does the ring current get dissipated by “a powerful shockwave of particles emanating from center of the solar system” from time to time?
No, the belts decay by collisions with neutral atoms and various wave-related processes. I don’t know what difference there is between the Sun and the ‘center of the solar system’, but particles coming from the Sun actually helps to establish the belts, rather than to destroy them.
tallbloke says:
March 4, 2013 at 1:56 pm
Wiki: The ring current energy is mainly carried around by the ions, most of which are protons.
Note the little word ‘energy’. A moving proton has much more energy than an electron on account of its much greater mass.
Don’t see any mention of electrons here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Allen_radiation_belt :
“There are three distinct belts, with energetic electrons forming the outer belt and a combination of protons and electrons forming the inner belt.” The word electron occurs 23 times…
keith says:
March 4, 2013 at 1:58 pm
Mathematics invents really stupid things that any logical thinking person can understand are not real, like black holes and neutron stars. I am profoundly shocked to find censorship and actual derision of any alternative non-mainstream hypothesis on here.
And I am profoundly shocked to see the low level of basic scientific literacy prompting your comment.
tallbloke says:
March 4, 2013 at 1:50 pm
Does the ring current get dissipated by “a powerful shockwave of particles emanating from center of the solar system” from time to time?
No, the belts decay by collisions with neutral atoms and various wave-related processes. I don’t know what difference there is between the Sun and the ‘center of the solar system’, but particles coming from the Sun actually helps to establish the belts, rather than to destroy them.
—–
I get confused by your question. Only saw now that that ‘center of the solar system’ was not your phrase, but from the press release. So my comment should be directed at that. They might mean that a CME re-filled the belts [as they often do] and dumped particles all over the place, thus smearing the various belts into each other. In any case, the phrase was a bit weird.
as goes the universe being full of plasma …
US Navy Labs creates Plasma in the upper Atmosphere
http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/2272013-us-navy-labs-create-plasma-rings-using-haarp-hf-radar-frequency/
Damn! That was my secret stash. Keep your hands of those electrons.
OFF those electrons.
Wiki:
The ring current energy is mainly carried around by the ions, most of which are protons. However, one also sees alpha particles in the ring current, a type of ion that is plentiful in the solar wind. In addition, a certain percentage are O+ oxygen ions
So add some of NASA’s electrons and a few lightning bolts and we have water….
keith says: March 4, 2013 at 1:58 pm
Mathematics invents really stupid things that any logical thinking person can understand are not real, like black holes and neutron stars.
Keith, I’m interested in your comments on this.
Don’t you think, whatever they may be called, there is very strong evidence that at the centre of our (and other) galaxy lies an invisible, star digesting, incredibly massive ‘object’ around which the entire galaxy orbits/circulates? To me, black hole seems at the very least, a fairly apt name.
bones says: March 4, 2013 at 3:15 pm
“… I have worked many years on neutron stars. They have been photographed and their masses and rotation rates measured. Their sizes and surface gravitational redshifts accord with computations using the experimentally determined neutron equation of state. They are as real as your face.
…… There is absolutely no doubt that massive astronomical objects compact enough to be black holes exist. But there are no observations that can distinguish them from other exotic model objects that would be compact enough to significantly warp spacetime. …”
Thanks bones … I appreciate the info on the neutron stars, that they have been observed ..
But looks like black holes are far more complex entities – can you please comment on this?:
Don’t you think, whatever they may be called, there is very strong evidence that at the centre of our (and other) galaxy lies an invisible, star digesting, incredibly massive ‘object’ around which the entire galaxy orbits/circulates? To me, black hole seems at the very least, a fairly apt name.
At present, there are about 2000 known neutron stars in the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds, the majority of which have been detected as radio pulsars.
(Wikipedia …. yeah, I know, but its quick and easy…and a nice read in this case!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_star
Well I’m having a whale of a time trying to decipher just what I am seeing in the above colorful (credit/blame) NASA illustration.
I see a single doughnut shape that intersects the earth at its inner surface. Then I see a completely disconnected doughnut shape that intersects neither the earth nor the other doughnut.
I also see the earth; or how else would I know of the connect/disconnect of those other two gizmos.
I see a couple of satelites that seem to move in an orbit that has an apogee n the middle of the red part of the first doughnut, and a perigee that magically lies in the middle of the red zone of the second doughnut. I see nothing else; neither electrons nor protons nor even alpha particles.
Does NASA ever label anything ??
So I can understand particle trapping, particularly by earth magnetic field. So who or what is supplying the energy that supposedly can accelerate these particles to high energies.
I do understand how particle accelerators work; even cyclotrons that wiki article mentions. Don’t see any “Dees” or equivalent in the NASA illustration. So where is the particle accelerating structure ??
Ack! The Van Allen belts are on fire! Send the SeaView & Admiral Nelson to blow it up.
Okay, at the risk of driving this thread further off topic, I really must ask – what is it about the electric universe theory that deserves such derision?
Personally I had never heard of it until just now. I did a quick google, and it seems to just be a school of thought in which electricity and electromagnetism are primary forces in the heavens instead of gravity. Okay… on what grounds does it warrant instant dismissal? Did I miss a post on WUWT or something?
HAARP, I don’t get that either. Again, never heard of it, but wiki says it’s a facility researching ways to improve/expand communications airwaves. What’s bogus about that? That some people believe we can control the weather, etc. by broadcasting a radio signal? Hell, if you believe that, I bet you also believe that we can control the whole earth’s temperature by regulating the amount of CO2 in the air…
Practically speaking, there’s only so much “bandwidth” to exploit in the electromagnetic spectrum, so I am glad to know there is work being done in this area…
Honestly, we didn’t vaporize the atmosphere with the atom bomb, we’re not going to boil away the oceans by burning hydrocarbons, and we are certainly not causing earthquakes or other disasters via long range air and particle wiggling. I am generally liable to completely dismiss out-of-hand claims of grandiose, end-of-world style destruction.
And in an attempt to bring my post back on topic, how do either of these have anything to do with the discovery above? It seems like we just witnessed some phenomena for only a fraction in time, and need more data before claiming it’s linked to anything at all. For now, I’ll just file this under, “Neat!”
If there were diametrical opposition between the belts could a discharge between the belts create
a third belt ? Something that equates equilibrium between the two belts ? The result is then toasted by a strong solar wind?
For reference:
When I first read the PR on NASA last week, the main thing that surprised me was that anyone would be surprised, then I got to the line “the Van Allen Probes showed scientists something that would require rewriting textbooks.” Sheesh.
Markx says “..Don’t you think, whatever they may be called, there is very strong evidence that at the centre of our (and other) galaxy lies an invisible, star digesting, incredibly massive ‘object’ around which the entire galaxy orbits/circulates? To me, black hole seems at the very least, a fairly apt name.”
No problem with acknowledging the existence of these and even that “black hole” might be a fairly apt description, but there are other possibilities that need to be excluded before we say that matter has the ability to cut off communication with the external universe except for gravity revealing its presence. This is believed to be the most stunning prediction of general relativity, but why close the case before it is made? It is pretty clear to me that one of quantum mechanics and general relativity, or both must be modified before they will be reconciled. Considering the many extremely accurate predictions of quantum mechanics, my bet is that general relativity will be found in need of having its conceptual foundations repaired.
Trenberth’s lost heat has been found!! Now how it got out there.