Latest Plasma physics Stories
Findings further efforts to better predict geomagnetic storms in space UCLA researchers have explained the puzzling disappearing act of energetic electrons in Earth's outer radiation belt, using data collected from a fleet of orbiting spacecraft. In a paper published Jan 29 in the journal Nature Physics, the team shows that the missing electrons are swept away from the planet by a tide of solar wind particles during periods of heightened solar activity. "This is an important...
TRUCKEE, Calif., Jan. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Solar flares are all over the news as we head towards the next "solar maximum" in 2012/2013. With recent brilliant displays of northern lights, scientists are concerned that this next solar maximum could deal a devastating blow to our electronic power grid and communications systems. Periods of intense solar activity occur once every eleven years when our sun's magnetic poles flip and the sun sends powerful waves of charged particles...
The geographical sciences website EurekaMag.com publishes insights into specific subjects of all areas of geographical science. The latest review covers Aurora borealis which are the Northern Lights caused by radiation emitted as light from atoms in the upper atmosphere as they are hit by fast-moving electrons and protons. Two other newly published reviews cover Solar Flare which is a large energy release at the sun's surface, and Solar Storm which is a massive burst of solar wind...
[ Watch the Video ] A solar flare from Sunday collided with Earth on Tuesday, becoming the largest solar radiation storm since October 2003. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center has categorized the storm as "strong," or an S3, storm. These storms can affect satellite operations and short wave radio propagation, but do not cause any harm to humans on Earth. Some polar flights, including a dozen Delta Air Lines planes, were re-routed to avoid communications lapses and exposing...
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued a geomagnetic storm watch as experts predicted that the biggest solar storm since 2005 is expected to hit Earth Tuesday morning, various media outlets are reporting. According to Fox News reports, at approximately 11pm Eastern time on Sunday night, the sun released an "immense blast of plasma" that has caused authorities to redirect the flight plans of certain high-altitude aircraft. In...
[ Watch the Video ] A paper published in the Jan. 20th issue of Science raises an intriguing new possibility for astronomers: unearthing comet corpses in the solar wind. The new research is based on dramatic images of a comet disintegrating in the sun's atmosphere last July. Comet Lovejoy grabbed headlines in Dec. 2011 when it plunged into the sun's atmosphere and emerged again relatively intact. But it was not the first comet to graze the sun. Last summer a smaller comet took the...
[ Watch the Video ] A subset of data that helps map out the sun's magnetic fields was recently released from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Observations that measure the strength and direction of magnetic fields on the solar surface -- known as vector magnetograms -- play a crucial role in understanding how those fields change over time and trigger giant eruptions off the surface of the sun such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Collecting the information needed...
Previous theories imposed a limit on how 'liquid' fluids can be -- but new calculations show that quark-gluon-plasma in high-energy particle accelerators can be even have a lower viscosity than this limit suggests How liquid can a fluid be? This is a question particle physicists at the Vienna University of Technology have been working on. The "most perfect liquid" is nothing like water, but the extremely hot quark-gluon-plasma which is produced in heavy-ion collisions at the Large Hadron...
Scientists have warned of a major solar storm hitting the Earth that could possibly knock out radio signals. Experts expect radio blackouts for a few days after the radiation from the coronal mass ejection (CME) hits our planet. The flare is part of a larger increase in activity in the Sun, which is expected to peak around 2013. "Category G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storms are expected 28 and 29 December due to multiple coronal mass ejection arrivals," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric...
After abandoning efforts to save its Martian moon probe, Phobos-Grunt, that has been stranded in Earth’s orbit since early November, Russia is now focusing on where the blame lies for the expensive mishap. The accused: Alaska’s High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) transmitter. Phobos-Grunt, now considered a 7.5 ton heap of space debris, is expected to plunge back to Earth around January 9, two months after it became stranded, according to Russian space agency,...
Latest Plasma physics Reference Libraries
The prominent feature that allows for the existence of life on Earth is the Sun. Radiation from our closest star provides heat and energy to our planet, driving biological processes and providing the necessary conditions for liquid water to naturally exist. But our Sun is only but one star in this vast Universe. And as it turns out, most stars are quite different than the one that illuminates our day. For this reason, scientists have, for hundreds of years, attempted to study the other...
Solar cycles: what are they and why should we care about them? Solar cycles are made up of what are known as solar minimums (min) and solar maximums (max). We refer to a solar min at the time when the sun is not active with many sunspots, while a solar max is just the opposite when we see a large increase in sunspot activity. So how long do solar cycles last? Typically they run on what is known as an 11 year cycle from the max to the min and then start over again anew. As of 2012 we...
Solar Physics is a journal for solar and solar-stellar research and the study of solar terrestrial physics. Founded in 1967 by solar physicist Cornelis de Jager and publisher D. Reidel, the journal treats all aspects of solar physics, ranging from the internal structure of the Sun and its evolution, to outer corona and solar wind in interplanetary space. Solar Physics has four more than forty years been the principal journal for publications of fundamental research on the Sun. It is...
Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén (May 30, 1908 - April 2, 1995) was a Swedish plasma physicist born in Norrköping, Sweden. Alfvén received his PhD from the University of Uppsala in 1934. His thesis was titled "Investigations of the Ultra-short Electromagnetic Waves." He was originally trained as an electrical power engineer and later moved on to research and teaching in the fields of plasma physics. Alfvén made many contributions to plasma physics, including theories describing the...
Ring Current -- A ring current is an electric current carried by charged particles trapped in a planet's magnetosphere. It is caused by the longitudinal drift of energetic (10-200 keV) particles. Earth's Ring Current Earth's ring current is responsible for geomagnetic storms. The ring current system consists of a band, at a distance of 3-5 RE(1), which lies in the equatorial plane and circulates clockwise around the Earth (when viewed from the north). The particles of this region...
