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ESA's Cluster Spacecraft Makes Shocking Discovery

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Mon May 14, 2007 03:45 PM
from the celestial-shocker dept.
Space News
A recent observation by the ESA's Cluster Spacecraft was able to finally prove a 20-year-old theory. "On 24 January 2001, the four Cluster spacecraft were flying at an approximate altitude of 105 000 kilometres, in tetrahedron formation. Each spacecraft was separated from the others by a distance of about 600 kilometres. With such a distance between them, as they approached the bow shock, scientists expected that every spacecraft would record a similar signature of the passage through this region. Instead, the readings they got were highly contradictory. They showed large fluctuations in the magnetic and electric field surrounding each spacecraft. They also revealed marked variations in the number of solar wind protons that were reflected by the shock and streaming back to Sun."
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ESA's Cluster Spacecraft Makes Shocking Discovery 50 Comments More /

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  • Could a solar near-magnetosphere bow-shock wave be the cause of long-delayed echoes [google.com]? These are echoes of radio signals that are no multiple of the distances to likely objects. The average ham who is active on HF hears about one a year.

    Bruce

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by i_like_spam (874080)
      Why is this discovery so shocking if there is a 20-year-old theory that explains the observations?

      Usually the most shocking discoveries are the ones not described by any theories.
      • A comment made near the end of TFA may help explain why it's so "shocking":

        Although the conditions that cause the reformation of a shock wave are rare around the Earth, they are common around these other celestial objects.
        I would interpret this, in context with the rest of the article, to mean that the phenomenon measured by the Cluster doesn't normally happen around Earth. After all, we've been sending spacecraft out past the moon since long before 2001, so these can't be the first to get a chance to measure the region. I believe the point of the article was that these fluctuations were predicted in 1985, but until 2001, none of the measurements of Earth's bow shock supported the theory. The ESA was fully expecting similar readings this time around, but "shockingly" got readings that proved the 20-year-old theory. --K
        • I think as much as anything this observation didn't happen before, because Cluster is the first mission to fly spacecraft in relatively tight formation in the correct location. Even with with Cluster, orbital dynamics are such that magnetopause and bow shock crossings do not happen that often, so there is not that much data on them.

          As for shocking, I think that is just a bad joke. Though these are nice results, I don't think that anyone is that surprised by them.

    • Bruce, Many regions of the magnetosphere [nasa.gov] seem like possibilities for LDEs, including the bow shock or the magnetopause. There are articles looking into these possible sources linked to from one of the pages [df5ai.net] your search pops. The consensus seems to be that magnetospheric causes are unlikely.
    • Very interesting Bruce! I've not heard of these before but I'll be on the listen from now on. Thanks!

      -Joe W7COM
    • The average ham who is active on HF hears about one a year. I'm an average ham. I'm active on HF. I've been on the air for almost 20 years. I've never heard one. I've read about them, but I've never heard one.

  • Flight Recorder Captured it (Score:5, Funny)

    by joeflies (529536) on Monday May 14 2007, @03:49PM (#19120881)
    Wesley Crusher testified that the squadron was in Diamond Slot formation around Titan.

  • So.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Audent (35893) <audent.ilovebiscuits@com> on Monday May 14 2007, @03:51PM (#19120913) Homepage
    WTF does that mean?

    I am SO not a rocket scientist.

    • Re:So.... (Score:5, Funny)

      by eln (21727) on Monday May 14 2007, @04:02PM (#19121139) Homepage
      I think it means we're going to have to send a tachyon pulse into that thing in order to reverse the polarity and stabilize the anomaly.
      • Score:4, Informative?! Have I slept for a few years and not noticed that technobabble has made it into mainstream physics? Is positron emission really the key to artificial intelligence? Is alternating between two velocity states while remaining at neither for longer than Planck time, 1.3 x 10^-43 seconds, the secret behind superluminal travel? Do all aliens really look like humans with play-doh on their heads?!!
    • It means that the Starboard Manifold Coupling may overload due to Heisenberg Waves unless we can patch the Quantum Foam Warp Reactor Sealant before the Borg board us!

      • Quantum Foam.... thats that expanding stuff they sell in cans at the Home Depot right?

        • ...that expanding stuff they sell in cans at the Home Depot right?


          No, silly! It's an old form of contraceptive. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The field collapses when the female achieves orgasm, which is why it is so ineffective.
    • It means that solar radiation hitting the earth's magnetic field acts like waves hitting the walls of your bathtub when you turn the faucet on. You get waves, not a ridge of water at the wall.

      In short, these bowshocks will shrivel your sack if you stay in to observe them too long.
    • ...it was the rocket scientists who didn't know, so that means you ARE a rocket scientist!
    • Don't cross the streams. It would be bad.
      • Did high energy elbow impact head of yours? This perhaps explain talk your way as reason. Apologies from me yet resist could not.

      • Obviously the result of translating Japanese to English on Google Translate. Consider this direct translation from today's Yomiuri on-line

        With the Tokyo Shibuya Ku dentist house the December last year, junior college raw Buto sub- being clear of the eldest daughter (the [a] completed) (at that time 20 years old) in the incident where the corpse who is cut off is found, it was prosecuted with crime of homicide and the corpse damage, your Defendant original preparatory school raw Isamu of the older brother

  • Poor Wesley... (Score:3, Informative)

    by gzerphey (1006177) on Monday May 14 2007, @03:52PM (#19120933)
    I'm sorry but did anyone else think of a Kolvoord Starburst?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Duty [wikipedia.org]
    • I'm sorry but did anyone else think of a Kolvoord Starburst?

      At least one other person was as dorky as you. I'm sure many more will follow.

      PS: that other person wasn't me ;P
      • Yep, it was my first thought too, and I was going to post something about it, but it looks like I've been beaten to it.
    • No, no one but you thought of that.

      Feel better?
  • The great thing about science out in space is that it yields BOTH amazing results AND really neat pictures.

  • Uh.. yeah (Score:5, Informative)

    by orclevegam (940336) on Monday May 14 2007, @04:08PM (#19121241) Journal

    Well, I understand more or less what the article is about (although they said it in a very long winded way), but I'm thinking unless you're a astrophysicist, are studying particle physics, or possible electro-magnetic phenomena then this is a rather dry article.

    It's my understanding based on the article that what they discovered (or more accurately proved) was that the bow shock produced by the solar wind colliding with earths magnetosphere is not actually a single giant bow shock, but more like a whole bunch of continually reforming bow shocks stacked on top of each other. Of course, I'm not a physicist, so I could be wrong in that interpretation. Also, it doesn't seem as if this discovery has any immediately applicable implications but is more of a hey, that's kind of neat, type thing.

  • "PhysOrg" means Physics, right? Well then, show me the numbers. And probably a graph or two. FFS, since when does "highly contradictory" pass for information?

    Were the differences well within the error bars? I'm going with the latter until someone pastes a link with meat on its bones.

    • Were the differences well within the error bars? I'm going with the latter until someone pastes a link with meat on its bones.
      Here you go. [beef.org]
    • Here is a link [esa.int] to the original press release, with better images. Like the AC said, for more details you can get the journal article. It doesn't seem to be up on any of the usual pre-print archives.

  • We found it! (Score:3, Funny)

    by cashman73 (855518) on Monday May 14 2007, @04:19PM (#19121407) Journal
    This must be the homeworld of the Ori, and this must be a sign of the enlightenment! "Those who reject the path to enlightenment must be destroyed."

    "Hallowed are the Ori."

    • Who else... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Lockejaw (955650) on Monday May 14 2007, @03:56PM (#19121025)
      ... didn't have to look up tetrahedron because they roll d4's every weekend?

      • Re:Who else... (Score:5, Funny)

        by eln (21727) on Monday May 14 2007, @03:59PM (#19121095) Homepage
        Who else didn't know what a tetrahedron was until the above poster noted that it was the shape of a 4 sided die?

        • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

          by ender- (42944)
          [sigh] me... :(

          Which in a way is odd, as I never got that into D&D and I haven't used a 4-sided die in many years.
          Still sad.

        • Re:Who else... (Score:5, Funny)

          by Kohath (38547) on Monday May 14 2007, @05:30PM (#19122527)
          That's why they were effected with a bow shock.

          You're supposed to do your saving throws with a 20-sided die. You'll never save against anything with a tetrahedron.

        • Re:Who else... (Score:5, Funny)

          by ookabooka (731013) on Monday May 14 2007, @05:39PM (#19122679)
          and finally: Who knew what a tetrahedron was, but didn't know what a "d4" was until the above poster stated it was a die with 4 sides?
          • One more: Who else despairs about the state of the education system when people don't know the meaning and etymology of tetra- [etymonline.com] without examples? Do the d4 rollers know what a tetrapod without comparing it to various monsters?
        • Check out the movies on this page [nasa.gov] for a tetrahedron you'll remember. Also it's the shape of the ammonium molecule, if you've done some organic chemistry that's burned into your mind.
        • Sorry, I didn't notice the remember how many sides a tetrahedron has, but I did notice that the article claims Science proved something. This misunderstanding of the scientific method is understandable from CNN maybe, but this is supposed to be a Geek Website.
    • No; however, I did have to look up bow shock [wikipedia.org], which frankly I think probably should have been linked in the summary.

      Basically it's the 'wave' that precedes the sun or a planet as it passes through space, somewhat similar to the standing wave that you'd see in front of a big tanker ship going through the water. (Particularly one without a bulbous bow.) Rather than water, it's the solar wind that's being disrupted by the body's passage.

      Neat diagram on Wikipedia, too.
      • No; however, I did have to look up bow shock, which frankly I think probably should have been linked in the summary.

        The article explained it.
        • This is /. and we don't need no stinkin' articles.

          Actually, I had the urge to know what a bow shock was before reading the article. I read the summary, my brain didn't recognize what a bow shock was, so I went and looked it up right then. Kind of an obsessive habit, I guess.
    • Unlike Fox News, CNN, and the rest of the mainstream media reporters, researchers in science fields often do investigation into their findings.

      The research was published in March. I think most of the time however was spent deciding a title, "Nonstationarity and reformation of high-Mach-number quasiperpendicular shocks: Cluster observations"
    • Would you grant an exception to 0 K (-273.15 C) [wikipedia.org]?

      (btw, my spell checker insists on "turbulent")
      • >Would you grant an exception to 0 K (-273.15 C) [wikipedia.org]?

        I dunno, if someone said that lizards can't fly, would you grant an exception for black dragons?

        Might want to read the first paragraph of that link you posted.
    • As an electrical engineer I'd like to think I make a wonderful mythologist and astrophysicist.

      Mostly mythologist though.
    • So What does it all mean, Basil?

      That Manuel has been drinking the sherry again. And he found the good stuff this time?

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