Did you know that the Earth is surrounded by “killer electrons,” but it turns out that one of the only things protecting us from grip is an invisible force field of the type usually seen in sci-fi movies. Read how The Huffington Post puts it:
These electrons, part of the two Van Allen radiation belts that surround the planet, can knock satellites out of commission and threaten astronauts. But in a new study in the journal Nature, scientists say they’ve discovered that these electrons suddenly stop at about 7,200 miles above the surface of the Earth.
“It’s almost like theses electrons are running into a glass wall in space,” professor Daniel Baker, director of CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and lead author of the study, said in a news release. “Somewhat like the shields created by force fields on ‘Star Trek’ that were used to repel alien weapons, we are seeing an invisible shield blocking these electrons. It’s an extremely puzzling phenomenon.”
While it had been speculated that Earth’s magnetic fields or even radio signals from human transmitters were blocking the electrons, Baker and his team say neither possibility explains the sudden wall the electrons appear to be hitting.
“When you look at really energetic electrons, they can only come to within a certain distance from Earth,” Shri Kanekal, deputy mission scientist for the Van Allen Probes at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and a co-author on the paper said. “This is completely new. We certainly didn’t expect that.”
One possibility is the noisy hiss emerging from the planet’s plasmasphere. This hiss, which sounds like white noise, is caused by low-frequency electromagnetic waves, and those waves could be scattering the electrons, which travel at speeds of 100,000 miles per second. But Baker believes that’s not the only reason for the “force field” effect.
These electrons, part of the two Van Allen radiation belts that surround the planet, can knock satellites out of commission and threaten astronauts. But in a new study in the journal Nature, scientists say they’ve discovered that these electrons suddenly stop at about 7,200 miles above the surface of the Earth.
“It’s almost like theses electrons are running into a glass wall in space,” professor Daniel Baker, director of CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and lead author of the study, said in a news release. “Somewhat like the shields created by force fields on ‘Star Trek’ that were used to repel alien weapons, we are seeing an invisible shield blocking these electrons. It’s an extremely puzzling phenomenon.”
While it had been speculated that Earth’s magnetic fields or even radio signals from human transmitters were blocking the electrons, Baker and his team say neither possibility explains the sudden wall the electrons appear to be hitting.
“When you look at really energetic electrons, they can only come to within a certain distance from Earth,” Shri Kanekal, deputy mission scientist for the Van Allen Probes at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and a co-author on the paper said. “This is completely new. We certainly didn’t expect that.”
One possibility is the noisy hiss emerging from the planet’s plasmasphere. This hiss, which sounds like white noise, is caused by low-frequency electromagnetic waves, and those waves could be scattering the electrons, which travel at speeds of 100,000 miles per second. But Baker believes that’s not the only reason for the “force field” effect.
No comments:
Post a Comment