Magnetic reconnection occurs when two opposing camps lines are broken and are connected together, which releases large amounts of energy. A study published today in Science describes the first direct observation.
This phenomenon occurs in the nuclei of galaxies and cause explosions visible from billions of light years. In the Sun causes solar flares as powerful equivalent to half a million atomic bombs and Earth brings energy to magnetic storms and auroras.
However, scientists have not explained how the simple made of crisscrossing magnetic field lines causes such violent explosions, says NASA on its website popular science, which says that “magnetic reconnection could be the favorite way for the universe to blow up things.”
a team of experts, composed among others by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the University of Maryland have studied the data of MMS and its findings have “significant implications” for space, solar physics, astrophysics and physical fundamental plasma, according to a statement.
NASA launched the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS), a mission system last year to study the interaction of the magnetic field of the Earth with other celestial bodies , consisting of four ships flying through the magnetic field of our planet to study reconnection in action.
and now, they have been able to observe how this explosive physical process converts the stored magnetic energy into kinetic energy and heat.
“with the MMS a new ‘microscope’ has opened a new window to see clearly the reconnection,” said the vice president of the Division of Engineering and Space Science Swei and principal investigator for the mission, James L. Burch.
the four satellites MMS focus on the role that electrons in magnetic reconnection, which enables two interconnected magnetic fields.
Since the end last summer the four artifacts of MMS we try to find places where magnetic fields of the solar wind and Earth reconnect and finally in October made it through the center of a reconnection zone.
“Dimos spot, “said the deputy head of the MMS mission, Roy Torbert,” the spacecraft passed exactly through the region dissipation of electrons and were able to make the first physical experiment that’s ever been done in that environment ” .
scientists had studied magnetic reconnection in theory and had simulated with supercomputers, but until now did not know what controls the conversion of magnetic energy into particle energy.
the simple fact of observing reconnection in detail is as an “important milestone” but the main objective of the MMS mission is to determine how magnetic field lines momentarily break allowing reconnection and the release of energy, explained in a statement physics professor James Drake, University of Maryland.
No comments:
Post a Comment