Magnetic Portals Connect Sun and Earth 235
MaxwellEdison writes "Scientists have discovered evidence of magnetic portals connecting the Earth and the Sun every 8 minutes. 'Several speakers at the Workshop have outlined how FTEs form: On the dayside of Earth (the side closest to the sun), Earth's magnetic field presses against the sun's magnetic field. Approximately every eight minutes, the two fields briefly merge or "reconnect," forming a portal through which particles can flow. The portal takes the form of a magnetic cylinder about as wide as Earth. The European Space Agency's fleet of four Cluster spacecraft and NASA's five THEMIS probes have flown through and surrounded these cylinders, measuring their dimensions and sensing the particles that shoot through.'"
Another misleading headline (Score:4, Insightful)
"Magnetic Portals Connect the Solar Wind and the Earth's Magnetosphere" would be much better.
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I was thinking of a stargate time warp (Score:3, Funny)
And if you combine with a solar flare at the right time do we get to go back to 1969 in the age of cheap intel shares, and cheap pot and free lsd?
Yes, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
(c) Headline too long. (Score:4, Insightful)
> (a) this is Slashdot, and (b) this is Halloween. How on Earth do you expect to find a sensible summary given a juxtaposition like that?
(c) That headline is too long.
It's (c) that kills a lot of good headlines, honestly, but there's only so much space on the front page for those headlines to fit.
Re:Another misleading headline (Score:5, Informative)
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It'd be a scale model if you were talking about a pea and an exercise ball.
Although, yes, you are right, the OP has absolutely no appreciation of scale if he thinks that our action has any effect on the Sun's activity.
Well-done, NASA! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Well-done, NASA! (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Well-done, NASA! (Score:4, Funny)
This next magnetic field configuration is impossible...
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And, I might add
"there ain't no such thing as a free portal"
Re:Well-done, NASA! (Score:5, Funny)
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They do what they must, because they can...
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For the good of all of us. Except the ones who are dead.
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Nonsense. They are only in it for the cake at the end.
8 light-minutes (Score:5, Insightful)
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I prefer anthropic to coincedence. Though it could be both.
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Maybe we can use a large sphere or ring shaped device made up of a super strong magnetic metal that can create its own gravity field.
With this device we may be able to travel at the speed of light to the sun!
In fact, if we increase the magnetic s of this device and focus it on another "sphere" or ring device, maybe we can travel faster than the speed of light! We could have instantaneous travel!
Wow. Somebody should make a movie or tv show about this. We could call it Sphere Gate or The Ring .
Re:8 light-minutes (Score:4, Insightful)
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Magnetic fields do *not* propagate at the speed of light, and I cannot believe fyou got marked "insightful" despite the obviousness that you have no idea what you are talking about. You are talking about astrophysical dynamics, yet you can't even spell "resonance".
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At what speed do they propagate, in vacuum?
The Summary (Score:5, Funny)
Is a lie.
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Okay, that's good to know. Care to elaborate on why?
I'll elaborate for you (Score:5, Funny)
WHOOSH <-- this is the WHOOSH going over your head.
. <-- you.
o <-- this is the earth.
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Wow, and here I was thinking I just lived way the fuck above sea level despite living in Oakland, CA, the shore of which is... sea level.
But you're right! That bastard called us all fat! That's way more important accuracy-wise :)
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Obviously you haven't played Portal. I didn't think it was a huge deal at first, because the main gameplay element (portals) was as expected.
What was not expected was the personality and mannerisms of GlaDOS, the computer running the tests. That pretty much is what changed the game (for me) from being a novel puzzle game into a very entertaining 6-8 hours of gameplay.
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Woosh? I my day we just had to point and laugh conspiratorially!
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Well, you have to sort of point it out when the jokes whizzing by aren't that obvious. In this case, the joke was more or less an inside joke because it dealt with an adaptation of a saying that is found within a game.
The explanation is a lie (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The explanation is a lie (Score:4, Interesting)
Except portal wasn't developed by valve, it was a senior year project for digipen...
Not exactly. The precursor to Portal (Narbacular Drop) was developed by Digipen students. Valve subsequently hired said students to develop the game commercially using the Source engine, and Portal was born.
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Was modded 'informative' earlier.
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No, it wasn't a lie it was a triumph... no spelling errors, grammar mostly correct (except "Workshop" isn't a proper noun), working links -- almost like it had been edited by some kind of editor. Now, back to work; there's science to do, for the good of all of us.
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Well, Workshop can be a proper noun if the name of the workshop is Workshop. However, your right in that is doesn't appear to be used that way in the summery. Unless the author though it would be proper to drop the word plasma from the name "Plasma Workshop".
And yes, I probably made more errors in my post.
yet another missing mod option (Score:2)
-1 Joke ruiner
THEMIS Probes (Score:5, Funny)
Naw them ain't probes, them is aliens.
STARGATE!!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:STARGATE!!!! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:STARGATE!!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Learn something new every day (Score:5, Funny)
Really? How fascinating!
Re:Learn something new every day (Score:5, Funny)
I'm from the day side of the earth and am really getting a kick out of these replies.
Re:Learn something new every day (Score:5, Interesting)
we, the people of the night side of earth, object to the hotheaded policies of the day side government. despite all of your anti-nighttime propaganda, your DST [wikipedia.org] ploy to temporally encroach on our borders is plain to see. thus you have broken the circadian treaty that has kept peace between our two nations. we will not stand for this diurnal threat to our coolheaded & peace-loving society.
we declare war on the heathen sun-worshipers to, once and for all, bring an end to their sidereal tyranny. the crepuscular revolution has begun!
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which one? there 4 days sides to the earth (Score:4, Funny)
you don't believe Dr. Gene Ray, Cubic and Wisest Human [timecube.com]? don't tell me you are an academic deified Queer
<size 36 red font>
It is impossible for an academic
deified Queer ONE god to give
birth to, or breast-feed a Baby.
Bible fraud will destroy fools,
and they will eat one another.
Adam and Eve never existed.
Without profit, there is no god.
Believers will actually eat dung
before they will ever measure
their queer Godism for Cubic
Creation Truth. Just the other
Day in the NEWS, they were
worshipping their god image
in Vomit.
</size 36 red font>
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At the risk of my life, I must issue a GRAVE WARNING to my fellow Americans - about a potential Civil War between millions if Obama, the Black candidate, is elected President of the United States, displacing the white president - inducing America to become a Black Nation. There are some whites who cannot accept this, especially during the drastic hardtimes ahead, and will initiate a spark of violence that will spread over the Earth like a wildfire. The World is now on the verge of such a threat, and the World condition is highly volatile. This is most likely the test Biden mentioned. Neither candidate mentioned RACE for its beyond their expertise - so they just let it happen - slaughter like never seen before. I fear if Obama wins, America will lose. Now, what will you do to avoid such a hell?
Dr. Gene Ray, Cubic and Wisest Human.
Hmmm... Look it's Gene the Cubic, or Gene the Wisest Human.
But honestly, if this doesn't convince you to vote - the knowledge that there are people out there like this that will - nothing will.
Re:Learn something new every day (Score:4, Funny)
Actually, I find this rather interesting. For me the next question is how can this, or how does this affect global climate?
Re:Learn something new every day (Score:4, Funny)
It makes it warmer.
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You just killed a dozen pirates, you bastard!
Re:Learn something new every day (Score:5, Funny)
Every 8 minutes. We call the time 4 minutes later "mini ice minutes."
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Every 8 minutes. We call the time 4 minutes later "mini ice minutes."
Lordy, MOD that PARENT up. That's utter gold!
Point of the article (Score:2)
FTE = Flus Transfer Event (Score:2, Insightful)
Please, for the love of Helios and Demeter, spell out throw-away acronyms in summaries. It's annoying to read "Several speakers at the Workshop have outlined how FTEs form", and not being told what an FTE is. I really shouldn't have to RTFA[1] to discover that FTE = "Flux Transfer Event". It throws me off track when I read "how FTE are formed", and my brain translates to "how Frozen Talking Elephants are formed".
[1] If you need this acronym spelt out, perhaps you should be on digg.
Well at least we have (Score:4, Interesting)
the main plot device for next summer's blockbuster movie (tentatively titled "Star Portal").
-T
PS. Porno directors are already casting for the X-rated adaptation, tentatively titled "Star Hole"
Who tagged "!ipods"? (Score:2)
What could this possibly have to do with iPods? How could it possibly be confused with them?
Re:Who tagged "!ipods"? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Who tagged "!ipods"? (Score:5, Funny)
Well... it is true at least, right?
Lets add other fun !-tags.
Lets see... !aardvark, !aardwolf, !aargau, !aare, !aaron, !aascu...
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Click the arrow next to the tags to add your own. You need to be a member for at least six months, but I assume that's the case seeing as your UID is lower than mine and I can add tags just fine.
Aurora Borealis? (Score:5, Interesting)
"the cylindrical portals tend to form above Earth's equator and then roll over Earth's winter pole"
I wonder if that's why the aurora borealis seems to crawl across the sky. I seem to remember (from when I lived in the high north) that it happened in fairly regular intervals. The "every eight minuets" seems to ring true as the time between each pass of the light though I haven't been there in eight years so I might just be remembering it wrong.
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8 minutes between portals...
8 years since being far north (far from these portals)..
A UID divisible evenly by 8...
Hmm...
8.32 light minutes (Score:5, Insightful)
It is 93 million miles, or 8.32 light minutes, separating Sun and Earth (center to center) -- the magnetosphere will be slightly less. Coincidence? I hope they are investigating some sort of possible resonance or standing wave that is directly related to this distance.
Mal-2
Re:8.32 light minutes (Score:5, Interesting)
Use for planet detection? (Score:4, Interesting)
Exactly!
Could this be used to detect planets (which have a magnetic field)? The delay between subsequent magnetic portal anomalies should give approximate distance from central Sun to the planet.
And do other planets (with magnetic fields) exhibit this magnetic portal as well? Then the Sun should somehow contain a magnetic "signal" which is a superposition of all of those. With Fourier analysis we should be able to make out the components, thus finding out how many planets (with magnetic fields) there are and their distances from the central star.
And a bit more sci-fi idea: could we use this for communication purposes - make the Sun or the portal "ring" with our message? Kind of like lighting a big enough lamp to be seen from a further distance.
And something to think about: how do binary stars behave... Are they in resonance?
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The frozen-in condition follows from Maxwell's equations. Data from the ACE satellite show this is exactly the case. Therefore, as the solar wind speed increases, the IMF will r
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Do you think we should email them? You know.. just incase...
Planets Aligned (Score:5, Interesting)
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Well, the planets of the solar system are going into planetary alignment (Which occurs every 5,000 years), and I can tell you that a secret society called the Illuminati is seeking an ancient talisman that gives its possessor the ability to control time ; ).
Re:Planets Aligned (Score:5, Funny)
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My thinking is that the end of the world will come when all the lost socks suddenly pop back into existence, smothering the entire population of Earth.
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Steve Bell and the Pants of Power (Score:2)
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Since Pluto is no longer a planet, its portal privileges have been revoked.
let me be the first to say (Score:4, Funny)
<keanureevesvoice>
"whoa"
</keanureevesvoice>
Re:let me be the first to say (Score:4, Funny)
And the sequel:
<keanureevesvoice>
"whoa"
</keanureevesvoice>
Particles straight from the sun, (Score:4, Funny)
and I'm still alive.
In the sun's magnetic portal,
and I'm still alive.
Still crap. (Score:2)
I suppose the other planets might have these portals too. Makes me view the new-age beliefs about "harmonic convergence", celestial alignment and astrology in a different light.
Still crap, but mildly more interesting crap.
Worst pick-up line ever. (Score:2)
I'm going outside and talk to the Earth about: "no glove, no love".
Portals or a series of tubes? (Score:3, Interesting)
These portals I suspect are just a series of tubes.
The sun is just like a big truck that dumps particles into these tubes and it can be an enormous amount of material.
This message approved by the corrupt and out of touch Republicans for science
Teleportation (Score:3, Funny)
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Maybe we can use it to teleport our nuclear waste to the sun?
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Thanks for straightening this out.. (Score:4, Insightful)
On the dayside of Earth (the side closest to the sun),
Practice Safe Astronautism (Score:2)
The European Space Agency's fleet of four Cluster spacecraft and NASA's five THEMIS probes have flown through and surrounded these cylinders, measuring their dimensions and sensing the particles that shoot through."
Were they wearing adequate protection?! What's the Vatican's position on astro-bortion?! Even astro-slut portals have rights!
Research from 1979 (Score:3, Informative)
Looks related to this research [ucla.edu] done in the late seventies.
C.T. Russell and R.C. Elphic. ISEE observations of flux transfer events at the dayside mangetopause. Geophyiscal Research Letters, vol. 6, pp.33-36, 1979.
Aikon-
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Link to the Electric Universe Kooks Theory please.
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Wow. Another response lacking any hard information. What a complete surprise.
> Perhaps it is time to review some basic physics.
And electrodynamics. Remember Faraday? Maxwell?
> Wikipedia is your friend.
My friends have names like Andrea, and Jessica, and Bob. Maybe you should get out more.
Seriously, can anyone answer the question?
For the previous response:
http://thunderbolts.info/
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Dude. You've been watching wayyy too much SG-1. Really.
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Re:how long... (Score:4, Funny)
That would be a terribly depressing eight minute journey. Unless you became a human comet and smashed into Mercury or something, which would just be badass.
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Re:how about the moon? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:how about the moon? (Score:5, Funny)
But wouldn't it be cool if it did?
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