Like an earthquake in space, so called space quakes are temblors in Earth's magnetic meadow caused by plasma flying off the sun that could help make the colorful auroras that dance high in Earth's atmosphere, a new study suggests. While felt most powerfully in Earth orbit, these quakes can also reach all the way down to the surface of Earth it. "Magnetic reverberations have been detected at ground stations all around the globe, much like seismic detectors calculate a large earthquake," said Vassilis Angelopoulos of UCLA, principle researcher of NASA's THEMIS spacecraft.
And this rumble can pack a punch. "The total energy in a spacequake can rival that of an extent 5 or 6 earthquake," according to Evgeny Panov of the Space Research Institute in Austria. Panov is first writer of a paper coverage the results of a study on spacequakes in the April 2010 issue of Geophysical Research Letters. Spacequakes aren't the only unearthly temblors around. Scientists have also discovered starquakes, moonquakes and asteroid quakes. In fact, Earth can really stimulate asteroidquakes when wayward space rocks fly too close to our planet. In 2007, THEMIS exposed the precursors of spacequakes.
The action begins in Earth's magnetic tail, which is expanded out like a windsock by the million miles per hour solar wind. Sometimes the tail can become so expanded and tension-filled, it snaps back like an over-torqued rubber band. Solar wind plasma attentive in the tail hurtles toward Earth. On more than one time, the five THEMIS spacecraft were in the line of fire when these "plasma jets" swept by. Clearly, the jets were leaving to hit Earth. But what would happen then? The flotilla moved closer to the planet to find out.
And this rumble can pack a punch. "The total energy in a spacequake can rival that of an extent 5 or 6 earthquake," according to Evgeny Panov of the Space Research Institute in Austria. Panov is first writer of a paper coverage the results of a study on spacequakes in the April 2010 issue of Geophysical Research Letters. Spacequakes aren't the only unearthly temblors around. Scientists have also discovered starquakes, moonquakes and asteroid quakes. In fact, Earth can really stimulate asteroidquakes when wayward space rocks fly too close to our planet. In 2007, THEMIS exposed the precursors of spacequakes.
The action begins in Earth's magnetic tail, which is expanded out like a windsock by the million miles per hour solar wind. Sometimes the tail can become so expanded and tension-filled, it snaps back like an over-torqued rubber band. Solar wind plasma attentive in the tail hurtles toward Earth. On more than one time, the five THEMIS spacecraft were in the line of fire when these "plasma jets" swept by. Clearly, the jets were leaving to hit Earth. But what would happen then? The flotilla moved closer to the planet to find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment