Friday, March 13, 2015

NASA launches observatory to study magnetic fields – Azteca News

Florida, EUA.- The NASA Thursday launched four observatories identical in a multimillion space mission to study the fields Magnetic . of the Earth and the Sun

The unmanned Atlas rocket carrying the observatories which Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS). – night off from Cape Canaveral

observatories will be placed in an oblong orbit that extends tens of kilometers into the magnetosphere, about halfway to the moon. The observatories pyramid fly in formation to provide three-dimensional images of magnetic reconnection to lower scales.

This reconnection is what happens when the fields magnetic as those surrounding our planet and the Sun are combined, split and rejoin, which releases a lot of energy.

This process generates repeated auroras and solar storms that can disrupt communications and the flow of electricity on Earth. The data in this two-year mission could help scientists better understand what is known as space weather.

Each observatory looks like a giant octagonal wheel 3 meters long by 1.2 to tall, and weigh about 1,360 kilos each. They are numbered and were stacked like tires to rocket up.

The findings of the mission of thousand 100 million dollars will be useful to understand magnetic reconnection in the universe.

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