Tag: charged particles

BREAKING NEWS: PART-I Galactic Cosmic Rays Reaching Levels Never Before Seen

Today’s article will come as no surprise to the Science Of Cycles reader. There have been several articles SOC published regarding this issue going back to 2012. One of the highly contested questions regarding the pole shift is…’where’ on the time line of this cycle do we stand. I had addressed this question in previous articles. A significant and conveying influence to the makings of a magnetic pole reversal is the inundation of galactic cosmic rays, often referred to as ‘cosmic rays’.

NASA’s most recent study on galactic cosmic ray levels reaching Earth’s atmosphere are the highest ever reported. It is of no coincidence today’s GCR levels correspond with one of the lowest solar minimums observed. This is compounded by the Earth’s magnetic field weakening at a rate nobody saw coming. Researchers estimated the field was weakening about 5 percent per ‘century’, but new data revealed the field is actually weakening at 5 percent per ‘decade’, or 10 times faster than thought.

These GCRs are made up of high energy electrons, positrons, and other subatomic particles, which originate in sources outside the solar system and distributed throughout our galaxy Milky Way; hence the name ‘galactic cosmic rays’. Although periods of high solar activity such as solar flares, CMEs (coronal mass ejections) and coronal holes (solar winds) play a significant role in space and earth weather (including various natural phenomenon such as earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes and extreme weather) – studies indicate the periods of solar maximum are usually short-lived hovering around the 11 year cycle.

I propose that both solar rays and cosmic rays have an effect on Earth’s atmosphere, mantle, outer and inner core by generating the expansion and contraction of fluids and gas. Additionally, I suggest it is the more powerful highly energetic charged particles racing at nearly the speed of light which has the greater influence to Earth and all living things. It is the radiation from GCRs which can have – a yet to be determined minimal-or-significant measured effect on all forms of life. I would postulate the most sensitive species exposed to increasing radiation would be the most vulnerable – and in fact a significant number has already reached a point of extinction.

Coming Next: Part-II An Understanding of ‘Background’ and ‘Mass’ Extinctions (and why it applies to today’s galactic cosmic rays escalation.)

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BREAKING NEWS: New Study Suggests Electric Discharge Between Earth’s Core and Magnetic Field

This news release highlights the observation of charged particles in the form of what is sometimes described as “sprites”, which is an electrical discharge which surges from “below” to “above”. It is similar to the mechanics of a local lightening/thunderstorm we witness here on Earth. To the typical observer, it appears that lightening comes down from the heavens and strikes the Earth; however, it is the intense impulse of charge which comes from the ground which produces high voltage.

The existence of these upper atmosphere sprites has been reported by pilots for years sparking a healthy debate as to their cause and how they exist. ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen during his mission on the International Space Station in 2015 was asked to take pictures over thunderstorms with the most sensitive camera on the orbiting outpost to look for these brief features.

Denmark’s National Space Institute has now published the results of photos taken by ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, of upper atmosphere discharges, sometimes referred to as blue lightening or ‘sprites’. The video taken by Mogensen were from the (ISS) International Space Station. (shown below)

The cause or effects of these charged particle events are not well understood. Researched data does suggest a connection between Earth’s magnetic field and Earth’s core. With this hypothesis as a foundation, my personal research suggest a continued conjunction goes beyond our Heliosphere and into our galaxy Milky Way.

The blue discharges and jets are examples of a little-understood part of our atmosphere called the heliosphere. The Heliosphere is the outer atmosphere of the Sun and marks the edge of the Sun’s magnetic influence in space. The solar wind that streams out in all directions from the rotating Sun is a magnetic plasma, and it fills the vast space between the planets in our solar system.

The magnetic plasma from the Sun does not conjoin with the magnetic plasma between the stars in our galaxy, allowing the solar wind carves out a bubble-like atmosphere that shields our solar system from the majority of galactic cosmic rays.

Andreas concludes, “It is not every day that you get to capture a new weather phenomenon on film, so I am very pleased with the result – but even more so that researchers will be able to investigate these intriguing thunderstorms in more detail soon.”

BREAKING NEWS: New Findings Illustrate Secondary Extended Solar Cycles Far Greater Danger than Previously Known

Based on a new study, space scientists at the University of Reading are predicting we are witness to the beginning of a longer-term solar cycle, which will exceed the better-known 11 year and 22 year cycles. Each cycle consist of a ‘solar minimum’ and ‘solar maximum’ measured by the number of sunspots during these periods – and the waxing and waning of charged particles produced by solar flares, coronal mass ejections, coronal holes, and charged filaments.

This research is produced by Dr Mathew Owens, from the University of Reading’s Meteorology department, and Co-author Professor Mike Lockwood FRS, University of Reading. Their paper was published in the journal ‘Scientific Reports’. “The magnetic activity of the Sun ebbs and flows in predictable cycles, but there is also evidence that it is due to plummet, possibly by the largest amount for 300 years”; said Owens.

As the Sun becomes less active, sunspots and coronal ejections will become less frequent. As this trend continues over time, the escalating reduction in solar wind has a direct causal effect on the layers of the Sun’s atmosphere. The most significant effect will be on the ‘heliosphere’ – which like Earth’s magnetic field, shields the Earth dangerous charged particles and radiation.

**I am working on the completion of this study – hope to have it published tomorrow. STAY TUNED…..

PART-II Nearby Supernovae Found to have Affected Life on Earth

The surface of the Earth was immersed in life-damaging radiation from nearby supernovae on several different occasions over the past nine million years. That is the claim of an international team of astronomers, which has created a computer model that suggests that high-energy particles from the supernovae created ionizing radiation in Earth’s atmosphere that reached ground level. This influx of radiation, the astronomers say, potentially changed the course of the Earth’s climate and the evolution of life.

neutronstar

Earlier this year, two independent teams of astronomers published evidence that several supernovae had exploded some 330 light-years from Earth. Each event showered the solar system in iron-60, an overabundance of which has been found in core samples from the bottom of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. A discovery of the same element ‘iron-60’ was found on the moon.

Iron-60 is not all that supernovae produce – they also produce cosmic rays, which are composed of high-energy electrons and atomic nuclei. Previous work by Neil Gehrels of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, was found to be incorrect as he indicated that a supernova would have to explode within 25 light-years of Earth to give our planet a radiation dose strong enough to cause a major mass extinction.

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Now, a team led by Brian Thomas of Washburn University, and Adrian Melott of the University of Kansas argues that this conclusion is incorrect. The researchers looked at what would happen if a supernova exploded at a distance of 325 light-years and worked-out how its radiation would affect Earth. They found that cosmic rays accelerated towards Earth by the supernova are a different story. These have energies in the teraelectronvolt (TeV) region and are able to “pass right through the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field and propagate much further into the atmosphere than cosmic rays normally do.”, says Melott.

When a cosmic ray strikes an air molecule, it produces a shower of secondary particles that is filled with the likes of protons, neutrons and a strong flux of muons. Ordinarily this takes place in the upper atmosphere and can be responsible for ionizing and destroying ozone in the stratosphere. However, the supernova cosmic rays are so energetic that they will pass straight through the stratosphere, lower atmosphere, and down to the surface and deep into the oceans and mantle.

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Today, muons contribute a sixth of our annual radiation dose, however, the team calculated a supernova hit would result in a 20-fold increase in the muon flux that would triple the annual radiation dose of life forms on the planet.

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UPDATE: Earth’s Magnetic Field Shifts Much Faster Than Expected

It was back in January 2014, when NASA’s Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL)’s payload of thallium-activated sodium iodide, NaI(Tl) a crystalline material widely used for the detection of gamma-rays in scintillation detectors, saw something never seen before. During a moderate solar storm in which magnetic solar material collides with Earth’s magnetic field, BARREL mapped for the first time how the storm caused Earth’s magnetic field to shift and move.

earth's magnetic field lines

The fields’ configuration shifted much faster than expected – ‘on the order of minutes’ rather than hours or days. The results took researchers by such surprise causing them to check and re-check instruments and hypothesized outcomes. As a result, their findings were not published until last week on May 12 2016.

barrel

During the solar storm, three BARREL balloons were flying through parts of Earth’s magnetic field that directly connect a region of Antarctica to Earth’s north magnetic pole. One BARREL balloon was on a magnetic field line with one end on Earth and one end connected to the Sun’s magnetic field. And two balloons switched back and forth between closed and open field lines throughout the solar storm, providing a map of how the boundary between open and closed field lines moved.

“It is very difficult to model the open-closed boundary,” said Alexa Halford, a space scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “This will help with our simulations of how magnetic fields change around Earth, because we’re able to state exactly where we saw this boundary.”

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We live in the path of the Sun’s outflow of charged particles, called the solar wind. Solar wind particles are accelerated to high speeds by explosions on the Sun or pushed along by plasma – clouds of solar material. Much of this magnetic field loops up and out into space, but then connects back to Earth at the north magnetic pole, near the Arctic Circle.

A portion of Earth’s magnetic field is open as it connects to the Sun’s magnetic field. This open magnetic field gives charged particles from the Sun a path into Earth’s atmosphere. Once particles are stuck to an open field line, they exceedingly accelerate down into the upper atmosphere. The boundary between these open and closed regions of Earth’s magnetic field is anything but constant. Due to various causes – such as incoming clouds of charged particles, the closed magnetic field lines can realign into open field lines and vice versa, changing the location of the boundary between open and closed magnetic field lines.

magnetic-shift

Scientists have known the open-closed boundary moves, but it is hard to pinpoint exactly how, when, and how quickly it changes – and that is where BARREL comes in. The six BARREL balloons flying during the January 2014 solar storm were able to map these changes, and they found something surprising – the open-closed boundary moves rapidly changing location within minutes.

It is possible, but unlikely, that complex dynamics in the magnetosphere gave the appearance that the BARREL balloons were dancing along this open-closed boundary. If a very fast magnetic wave was sending radiation belt electrons down into the atmosphere in short stuttering bursts, it could appear that the balloons were switching between open and closed magnetic field lines.

However, the particle counts measured by the two balloons on the open-closed boundary matched up to those observed by the other BARREL balloons hovering on closed or open field lines only. This observation strengths the case that BARREL’s balloons were actually crossing the boundary between solar and terrestrial magnetic field.

First Ever Direct Analysis of Magnetic Loop Reconnect

In a paper published on May 12th 2016 in the scientific journal Science, a research team that includes a West Virginia University physicist helped shed light on the process of magnetic reconnection — which occurs when magnetic fields, such as those around the planet, break and reconnect. The paper details discoveries from NASA’s unprecedented Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission that launched four identical spacecraft into Earth’s magnetic shield to measure reconnection.

Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft2

On Oct. 16, 2015, MMS flew through the heart of a reconnection region, and scientists were able to perform the first-ever physics experiment in that environment. It is the first time that researchers have detected the exact point of reconnection.

Scientists are making new discoveries about a process that causes some of the most explosive events in the universe. At the same time, they are answering questions about Earth’s magnetosphere — the protective bubble around Earth that shields the planet from the Sun’s constant barrage of superheated, electrically charged particles.

electrically charged particles

The satellites directly measured the energy being converted during reconnection; it produced heat at a rate comparable to 10 million 200-watt solar panels. They also directly measured the mixing of charged particles from outside and inside the magnetic bubble, confirming that reconnection had occurred.

“Magnetic reconnection leads to events like solar flares and auroral displays so it is easy to see its aftereffects, but scientists have never been able to directly observe the point where it occurs until now,” says Paul Cassak, associate professor of physics in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and co-author of the paper. “The tiny sizes involved and the extreme speed of the reconnection process make it difficult to study.”

Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft

Up until MMS, scientists were unable to measure the smallest scales of reconnection because it was impossible to process data fast enough to determine what was occurring. With this mission, instruments were able to record data 100 times faster than ever before, fast enough to see where magnetic fields break.

Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft2

“The amount of data collected and the speed at which it was collected is remarkable,” says Cassak, whose role on the project was developing numerical simulations to help scientists understand what happens in the region where reconnection occurs. “Nobody thought the mission would be this successful this soon.”

As part of the MMS Theory and Modeling team, Cassak used MMS observations and sophisticated computer simulations to analyze how magnetic fields reconnect around Earth.

Along with the research team, Cassak determined the properties in the reconnection region. He ran a simulation using a supercomputer operated by the Department of Energy that put the observed results in a two-dimensional context, as opposed to the one-dimensional data that comes from the satellites.

The simulations produced a large amount of data — almost a third of a terabyte — and would have taken almost a year and a half to do on a single computer.

The simulation ultimately illustrates how magnetic reconnection happens. One goal of this type of research is to help space weather scientists predict how the magnetosphere will behave so that appropriate preparations can be made.

“Learning what causes magnetic fields to break has significant, fundamental implications for scientists because it is very difficult to resolve these types of scales, even in the lab,” says Cassak. “If scientists are able to use MMS to understand what is happening at small scales in the magnetosphere, they can apply this knowledge to other settings where reconnection is important, from space weather to fusion applications in the laboratory.”

Cassak says that the mission is still very young and there is much more to observe. MMS’s orbit will continue to focus on the day-side of Earth for another six months. Then, the orbit will be changed and it will focus on the night-side with the hopes that the spacecraft will encounter another reconnection region. Scientists expect the reconnection process to look different on the night-side, and hope to understand what drives events that cause auroral displays.

Cassak’s work is the latest groundbreaking research to come from WVU’s physics and astronomy department. Among other discoveries, WVU researchers were part of teams that recently detected gravitational waves for the first time and discovered that fast radio bursts are found to repeat.

 

 

BREAKING NEWS: New Discovery of Mysterious Alignment of Black Holes

Deep radio imaging by researchers in the University of Cape Town and University of the Western Cape, in South Africa, has revealed that supermassive black holes in a region of the distant universe are all spinning out radio jets in the same direction. The astronomers publish their results to the Royal Astronomical Society.

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The jets are produced by the supermassive black holes at the center of these galaxies, and the only way for this alignment to exist is if supermassive black holes are all spinning in the same direction, says Prof Andrew Russ Taylor, joint UWC/UCT SKA Chair, Director of the recently-launched Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy, and principal author of the Monthly Notices study.

galactic jets4

Earlier observational studies had previously detected deviations from uniformity (so-called isotropy) in the orientations of galaxies. But these sensitive radio images offer a first opportunity to use jets to reveal alignments of galaxies on physical scales of up to 100 Mpc. And measurements from the total intensity radio emission of galaxy jets have the advantage of not being affected by effects such as scattering, extinction and Faraday Radiation, which may be an issue for other studies.

bipolar jets

So what could these large-scale environmental influences during galaxy formation or evolution have been? There are several options: cosmic magnetic fields; fields associated with exotic particles (axions); and cosmic strings are only some of the possible candidates that could create an alignment in galaxies even on scales larger than galaxy clusters. It’s a mystery, and it’s going to take a while for technology and theory alike to catch up.

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New Equation:
Increase Charged Particles  and Decreased Magnetic Field → Increase Outer Core Convection → Increase of Mantle Plumes → Increase in Earthquake and Volcanoes → Cools Mantle and Outer Core → Return of Outer Core Convection (Mitch Battros – July 2012)

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The finding wasn’t planned for: the initial investigation was to explore the faintest radio sources in the universe, using the best available telescopes – a first view into the kind of universe that will be revealed by the South African MeerKAT radio telescope and the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), the world’s most powerful radio telescope and one of the biggest scientific instruments ever devised.

ancient black hole

UWC Prof Romeel Dave, SARChI Chair in Cosmology with Multi-Wavelength Data, who leads a team developing plans for universe simulations that could explore the growth of large-scale structure from a theoretical perspective, agrees: “This is not obviously expected based on our current understanding of cosmology. It’s a bizarre finding.”
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