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?"
Journey to the center of Uranus (Score:1, Funny)
Seriously though, could the possibility exist? Life within the core of a planet? Probably not, but it could make for a cool sci-fi adventure at least.
Re:Journey to the center of Uranus (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Journey to the center of Uranus (Score:2)
You probably think that Predator was bad too.
Re:Journey to the center of Uranus (Score:1)
Re:Journey to the center of Uranus (Score:4, Funny)
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.)
Re:Is there enough sample points? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Is there enough sample points? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Is there enough sample points? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Is there enough sample points? (Score:1)
Re:Is there enough sample points? (Score:5, Informative)
I would say that NASA (and everybody else) has always had a single planet focus. Doing a quick scan of the Planetary Exploration Timeline [nasa.gov] at NASA shows two other probes with two planets visited: Pioneer 11 and Mariner 10; a planet and sun combo: Ulysses; and then a sprinkling seven or eight planet and comet or comet and comet probes. All the rest (around 200?) are single target missions. (It's early, my counts may be off.)
The thing about the Voyager missions is there was a window in 1977 where the gas giants would line up for the Grand Tour--where we could use the gravity assist from one planet to get to the next in a reasonable amount of time. Now, this only happens every 175 years, so I doubt I'll be around to see the next Grand Tour mission. So
However, like most grand tours, the Voyager missions did suffer from the "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium" [imdb.com] syndrome of taking some pictures and quickly moving on to the next destination. Most of the probes nowadays are more like picking a beach and spending your entire summer vacation there, so you have enough time to become familiar with the locale. (Or, to use the correct terminology, a flyby mission versus an orbiter mission.)
Re:Is there enough sample points? (Score:5, Funny)
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:"so unique" is the sing of a flaccid mind (Score:2)
Eggsactly! Unique [unique.ch] is the company managing Zurich airport, and since the term is trademarked, any magnetic field claiming to be "so unique" had better get a license!
PS: "sing of a flaccid mind" is an exhortation, making the subject line ungrammatical.
Re:"so unique" is the sing of a flaccid mind (Score:1)
my hopes are with all, and seeming all includes nasa. I think I overshot... ooops.
Ok, I have a question (Score:2, Informative)