

Magnetic Portals Connect Sun and Earth - nickb
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/30oct_ftes.htm?list179029

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scott_s
They form every eight minutes, and the sun is about eight light-minutes away.
I know where I'd start if I was trying to explain why it happens every eight
minutes.

Of course, I'm sure the people doing this are looking into that.

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DaniFong
Interesting.

They might not be.

The magnetic interaction between Jupiter and the Sun is stronger than between
earth and the sun, so one might go looking for flux transfer events between
Jupiter and the sun with a period of 43.2 minutes (the time it takes for light
from the sun to reach Jupiter).

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delackner
If every 8 minutes a wide (?) beam of high energy particles shoots through the
entire planet, rolling from the equator through to the poles, then wouldn't
you expect to notice some effects on the ground in populated areas? Compasses
getting wacky, I dunno, but not nothing?

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iuguy
So we have portals, but where's the cake?

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habs
There is no cake, the cake is a lie!

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Shamiq
These are the things dreams are made of.

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DaniFong
It's very interesting physics, but not exactly magical. One can think of it as
magnetic field lines connecting or disconnecting between the earth and the
sun. Charged particles, like in the solar wind, follow this field lines, and
so there's a lot of particles transferred. Additionally, the particles
themselves are rotating, and 'lock in' magnetic flux, so they transport
magnetic flux between the sun and the earth, too.

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newt0311
A nice reminder that there is much to learn about this world. There is far too
little humility in science (and I speak as one who aspires to make a career in
academic fields).

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rams
Completely agree. Maybe scientific research needs the equivalent of angel
investors, or maybe just rich patrons, because investors tend to be impatient,
etc. We need to go back to the days of great experimentalists like Rayleigh,
Faraday, etc. The publish or perish way of working does not advance science
most of the time.Scientists resort to all sorts of tricks to stay afloat. I
remember reading somewhere that 80% of papers published in even reputed
jounals like Physical Review Letters do not advance our understanding by a
millimeter. It's wonderful to read stuff like this.

