The Earth's Magnetic shield cracked

According to a team from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research's GRAPES-3 data muon telescope in India, the Sun spit out a ginormous mass coronal ejection on June 22 2015 that essentially cracked the Earth's magnetic field. As a result, some cosmic radiation leaked through.

For 2 hours, Earth’s magnetosphere was being bombarded by these particles, which emit immensely high-energy radiation, and travel through space at nearly the speed of light.

These things are so powerful, they can easily penetrate the hull of a spacecraft, and Earth’s magnetic shield is our first line of defense against them.

"This vulnerability can occur when magnetized plasma from the Sun deforms Earth’s magnetic field, stretching its shape at the poles and diminishing its ability to deflect charged particles," Katherine Wright explains on the American Physical Society website.

The results indicate that the magnetosphere had been temporarily cracked, and that’s why things went so haywire in our radio systems.

In fact, the team says the bombardment was so relentless, it caused a severe compression of the magnetosphere, forcing it to shrink from 11 to 4 times the radius of Earth.

"The occurrence of this burst also implies a 2-hour weakening of Earth’s protective magnetic shield during this event," the researchers report.

"[This] indicates a transient weakening of Earth’s magnetic shield, and may hold clues for a better understanding of future superstorms that could cripple modern technological infrastructure on Earth, and endanger the lives of the astronauts in space."

The good news is that the crack was temporary, the cosmic radiation was (mostly) absorbed by particles in the atmosphere, and everything should be fine down here in the troposphere.

Comments

Nutcase Couple Hang From Cliff 2700ft Above Rio

While most people get a little bit worried about heights when climbing up a ladder, Leonardo Edson Pereira, 23, and his girlfriend Victoria Medeiros Nader, 18, are very different. In fact, after seeing images of the couple hanging off a 2,700 ft cliff in Rio, Brazil, it’s safe to say the couple pretty much break the mould when it comes to heights and being daredevils. Pereira took his girlfriend with him on his latest thrill seeking adventure, with Pedra de Gavea their conquest this time. The images really are breathtaking and depict just one of the many times Pereira has climbed the Pedra de Gavea. He claimed: "I love living on the edge! I know people think it’s dangerous and crazy but it makes me feel alive,’ Leonardo says. It is really high and I do just hang on using my arm strength. I have to trust myself not to fall." The literal translation of the rock’s name means ‘Rock of the Topsail’, and while the images certainly are something, given ...

EARTH FACTS

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and is the largest of the terrestrial planets. The Earth is the only planet in our solar system not to be named after a Greek or Roman deity. The Earth was formed approximately 4.54 billion years ago and is the only known planet to support life. Planet Profile Mass: 5,972,190,000,000,000 billion kg Equatorial Diameter: 12,756 km Polar Diameter: 12,714 km Equatorial Circumference: 40,030 km Known Moons: 1 Notable Moons: The Moon Orbit Distance: 149,598,262 km (1 AU) Orbit Period: 365.26 Earth days Surface Temperature: -88 to 58°C Size Of The Earth Compared To The Moon Facts About The Earth The Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing: This deceleration is happening almost imperceptibly, at approximately 17 milliseconds per hundred years, although the rate at which it occurs is not perfectly uniform. This has the effect of lengthening our days, but it happens so slowly that it could be as much as 140 million years before the l...

10 Unique Facts About Oceans That You Didn’t Know

Ocean makes up 70% of the earth and still we are unaware about some unique facts about ocean. We have found ocean is a mysterious place which is not explored completely till now, so many of the questions are unanswered. Let’s brush up some knowledge about Earth’s Ocean. 1. Fifty percent of United States lies below the ocean. ( on a rough count) 2. Sunlight does not reach the ocean beds; hence most of the ocean are dark, black and chilled out. 3. If you travel through waterways, it will take 1000 years to take a globe tour. 4. Pacific ocean alone contains largest islands which covers 30% of earth’s surface 5. About 75 percent of oxygen comes from ocean and is produced by a microscopic animal called phytoplankton 6. Till now only three lakh under water species are identified out of a total of 3 million species. ...

BIONBIT

Search This Blog