magnetic storms tagged posts

Mercury has Magnetic Storms

Image by NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Images from Messenger show previously uncharted regions of the planet that have large craters with an internal smoothness similar to Earth’s own moon and that are thought to have been flooded by lava flows.

An international team of scientists has proved that Mercury, our solar system’ssmallest planet, has geomagnetic storms similar to those on Earth.

The research by scientists in the United States, Canada and China includes work by Hui Zhang, a space physics professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute.

Their finding, a first, answers the question of whether other planets, including those outside our solar system, can have geomagnetic storms regardless of t...

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Northern Lights’ ‘Social Networking’ reveals true scale of Magnetic Storms

Northern lights (stock image).
Credit: © PixieMe / Adobe Stock

Magnetic disturbances caused by phenomena like the northern lights can be tracked by a ‘social network’ of ground-based instruments, according to a new study from the University of Warwick.

The researchers, led by Professor Sandra Chapman from the University’s Department of Physics, have for the first time characterised the observations from over 100 ground based magnetometers in terms of a time-varying directed network of connections. They monitored the development of geomagnetic substorms using the same mathematics used to study social networks. The magnetometers ‘befriend’ one another when they see the same signal of a propagating disturbance.

The research, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, o...

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Space Mission first to observe key Interaction between Magnetic fields of Earth and sun

This artist's rendition shows the four identical MMS spacecraft flying near the sun-facing boundary of Earth's magnetic field (blue wavy lines). The MMS mission has revealed the clearest picture yet of the process of magnetic reconnection between the magnetic fields of Earth and the sun -- a driving force behind space weather, solar flares and other energetic phenomena. Credit: NASA

This artist’s rendition shows the four identical MMS spacecraft flying near the sun-facing boundary of Earth’s magnetic field (blue wavy lines). The MMS mission has revealed the clearest picture yet of the process of magnetic reconnection between the magnetic fields of Earth and the sun — a driving force behind space weather, solar flares and other energetic phenomena. Credit: NASA

A new study provides the first major results of NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. The paper describes the first direct and detailed observation of magnetic reconnection, which occurs when 2 opposing magnetic field lines break and reconnect with each other, releasing massive amounts of energy. The discovery is a major milestone in understanding magnetism and space weather.

Evidence suggests reconnec...

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