Magnetic Field Mystery Solved? 28
OneOver137 writes "Researchers at Harvard may have solved a long-standing mystery: Why are the magnetic fields of the outer gas giants, Uranus and Neptune so unique? Further more, could these fields be used to probe the internal structure of other planets like Mercury, a notoriously difficult subject? Maybe this new technique could be used on the Messenger mission?"
Is there enough sample points? (Score:5, Interesting)
The short blurb on PhysicsWeb said the measurements were all made by Voyager 2. A single pass is, while better than nothing, a rather limited snapsnot of a dynamic system.
Sounds like we need a Voyager 3 and 4 the next time there's a decent slingshot out to them. (Which isn't any time soon.)
Further field splits with cooling? (Score:5, Interesting)
Those small domains will be hard to detect, though. As planet moves to equilibrium and the fluid layer thins and cools, the delta-T driving the convention will weaken. Smaller cells of slower-moving fluid will mean a much weaker magnetic field. Now we only need to wait a few billion years to see if this is what will happen......
Re:Is there enough sample points? (Score:2, Interesting)