random astronomy
The vast region of space filled by the Sun’s magnetic field is called the heliosphere. All nine planets orbit inside it. But the biggest thing in the heliosphere is not a planet, or even the Sun. It’s the current sheet—a sprawling surface where the polarity of the Sun’s magnetic field changes from plus (north) to minus (south). “We call it the ‘current sheet,’” says Riley, “because an electrical current flows there, about 10-10 amps/m2.” The filament of an ordinary light bulb carries sixteen orders of magnitude more amps/m2. But what the current sheet lacks in local amperage, it makes up in sheer size. The sheet is 10,000 kilometers thick and extends from the Sun past the orbit of Pluto. “The entire heliosphere is organized around this giant sheet.”Source
The facts around San Diego’s Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Scientists’ ten years of efforts to develop the small 4 day window for advance warning of geomagnetic storms is rather interesting. To support their research the scientists have utilized the Blue Horizon IBM SP3 at the San Diego Supercomputing Center together with data gathered from NASA’s Ulysses spacecraft, which “follows a high-looping orbit where it can see the Sun’s polar regions—something no other spacecraft can do.” Maybe I’m just fascinated that a project spans such depths and breadths in terms of time, technology and physical space (I’m sure funding, brain power and ingenuity could be added to that mix as well). The natural phenomenon of the sun’s mechanisms and their massive influence are staggering. And I am a mega nerd.
8 June 2003, 17:48 ::
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