Community | March 02, 2013 | 19 comments

NASA Discovers New Radiation Belt Around Earth

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Dagum
A ring of radiation previously unknown to science fleetingly surrounded Earth last year before being virtually annihilated by a powerful interplanetary shock wave, scientists say.

NASA’s twin Van Allen space probes, which are studying the Earth’s radiation belts, made the cosmic find. The surprising discovery — a new, albeit temporary, radiation belt around Earth — reveals how much remains unknown about outer space, even those regions closest to the planet, researchers added.

After humanity began exploring space, the first major find made there were the Van Allen radiation belts, zones of magnetically trapped, highly energetic charged particles first discovered in 1958.

"They were something we thought we mostly understood by now, the first discovery of the Space Age," said lead study author Daniel Baker, a space scientist at the University of Colorado.

These belts were believed to consist of two rings: an inner zone made up of both high-energy electrons and very energetic positive ions that remains stable in intensity over the course of years to decades; and an outer zone comprised mostly of high-energy electrons whose intensity swings over the course of hours to days depending primarily on the influence from the solar wind, the flood of radiation streaming from the sun.

The discovery of a temporary new radiation belt now has scientists reviewing the Van Allen radiation belt models to understand how it occurred.

Radiation rings around Earth

The giant amounts of radiation the Van Allen belts generate can pose serious risks for satellites. To learn more about them, NASA launched twin spacecraft, the Van Allen probes, in the summer of 2012.

The satellites were armed with a host of sensors to thoroughly analyze the plasma, energetic particles, magnetic fields and plasma waves in these belts with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution.

Unexpectedly, the probes revealed a new radiation belt surrounding Earth, a third one made of super-high-energy electrons embedded in the outer Van Allen belt about 11,900 to 13,900 miles (19,100 to 22,300 kilometers) above the planet’s surface. This stable ring of space radiation apparently formed on Sept. 2 and lasted for more than four weeks.

"The feature was so surprising, I initially foolishly thought the instruments on the probes weren’t working properly, but I soon realized the lab had built such wonderful instruments that there wasn’t anything wrong with them, so what we saw must be true," Baker said.

This newfound radiation belt then abruptly and almost completely disappeared on Oct. 1. It was apparently disrupted by an interplanetary shock wave caused by a spike in solar wind speeds.

"More than five decades after the original discovery of these radiation belts, you can still find new unexpected things there," Baker said. "It’s a delight to be able to find new things in an old domain. We now need to re-evaluate them thoroughly both theoretically and observationally."

A radiation mystery

It remains uncertain how this temporary radiation belt arose. Van Allen mission scientists suspect it was likely created by the solar wind tearing away the outer Van Allen belt.

"It looks like its existence may have been bookended by solar disturbances," Baker said.

Future study of the Van Allen belts can reveal if such temporary rings of radiation are common or rare.

"Do these occur frequently, or did we get lucky and see a very rare circumstance that happens only once in a while?" Baker said. "And what other unusual revelations might come now that we are really looking at these radiation belts with new, modern tools?"

The scientists detailed their findings online Feb. 28 in the journal Science....

Continued at:

http://www.space.com/20004-earth-radiation-belt-discovery.html
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19 comments // NASA Discovers New Radiation Belt Around Earth

  • circlesquared
    • +1
      circlesquared  
    • Image
    • interesting question and answer from Zetatalk about this

      NASA allegedly discovers a temporary radiation belt around Earth, and they want the world to know too. But the only way most of us will ever know the truth about this new radiation belt is ZetaTalk. Could the Zetas tell us if NASA is covering up something and/or preparing to blame this radiation belt for what Planet X is causing? [and from another] New, Temporary Radiation Belt Spotted Around Earth http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/02/28/science/ap-us-sci-radiation-satellite... You may not have noticed it, but for several weeks last year, the Earth was surrounded by an extra ring of radiation. There are two doughnut-shaped rings of highly charged particles encircling the planet. Discovered in 1958, they're known as the Van Allen radiation belts. So it came as a surprise when NASA's recently launched twin satellites to the treacherous region discovered a third, temporary ring. It appeared for a month before a shock wave from the sun destroyed it. Scientists are still trying to figure out how often this happens. The twin spacecraft launched last year on a mission to explore the Van Allen belts. Solar storms can cause the rings to expand, posing a potential threat to satellites. The discovery was reported online in the journal Science.

      NASA is desperately trying to be inventive in their attempts to explain the Earth changes caused by the near presence of Planet X.

      They anticipated amateurs spotting an object in the sky, and the vast debris ridden dust cloud. Their solution to this was ridicule. If the astronomers (under a National Security Directive) were saying it was not there, then who is the public going to believe? NASA or their lying eyes?

      They anticipated the increase in fireballs by claiming that asteroids, dark rocks hard to detect and track, had come of late from the Asteroid Belt. They anticipated red dust in the atmosphere, turning the skies red and landing here and there, an accumulation that was undeniable. This was claimed to be pollution in the air, settling out, even where industries did not exist.

      Very early in the game they anticipated the Earth heating up, based on measurements taken since the early 1980’s showing this process as a reaction to the newly discovered Planet X identified by the IRAS team in 1983. Prior to this time, the globe had been cooling, so a clear change had occurred in the 1980s. Global Warming was the answer, aggressively pushed by such notaries as Al Gore.

      As earthquakes rose in frequency and severity, the answer was to direct the USGS, which is dominant in the world, to drop and downgrade quakes. Any shuddering or shaking unexplained by earthquakes statistics are attributed to fracking or mining explosions. The booms from breaking rock and heaving ground during plate movements are attributed to anything from aircraft breaking the sound barrier to fireworks. The volcanic increase was dealt with by restricting the media, so only local coverage occurs.

      The most difficult symptom to address was the magnetic flux, which has pushed the magnetic North Pole of Earth toward Siberia and befuddles pilots and those using the compass steadily since the arrival of Planet X in the inner solar system. This was addressed at first by NASA claiming the Sun was going frantic, having an extreme solar maximum, but reality did not support this. The Sun was virtually asleep during this cycle. Then they threw out a quad-pole theory, that the Sun had developed more than one set of poles, but they could never coordinate what was happening on Earth to their various Sun theories.

      Stuck with an increasingly twisting magnetosphere, NASA has been forced to invent an imaginary second radiation belt. The public, who have been barraged by all these theories, is getting increasingly skeptical. They notice the Earth wobble, which causes the Sun to be rising and setting in the wrong place, and note how this and the errant Moon, which likewise is appearing where it ought not, are ignored by the media. Meanwhile the Planet X complex has become so visible it is seen naked eye, a Second Sun and the Sun surrounded by brilliant Moon Swirls. Expect an inventive excuse for this from NASA shortly. Perhaps this will be a result of the newly discovered and intermittent radiation belt!

    • 3 months ago
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
  • MarshainFlorida
    • +2
      MarshainFlorida  
    • Very interesting phenom. Dagum. Since the V.A. Belt was only first discovered in 1958, it's possible it's been there much longer. I wonder if NASA has looked for or even found any such Belts surrounding any of the other planets. If the answer is no to other planets having such a Belt, then I have to wonder if something being done here on earth is "mixing" with particles emmanating from the sun and causing that belt formation. Bombs, pollution, etc., might contribute and cause the Belt effect. Also, could it be possible that the Belt is not actually getting blown away, but rather, under certain conditions could it become far less visible? Just asking. I really don't understand all of this or what it may mean.

    • 3 months ago
  • gardener52
  • Dagum
  • gardener52
  • Dagum
  • MarshainFlorida
  • treewolf39
  • savroD
  • coolplanet
  • treewolf39
  • coolplanet
  • Dagum
    • 0
      Dagum  
    • savroD:

      Sometimes it would seem there is not much of a difference between the two. NASA's discovery may go against much of the Dogma science, that is global warming/ climate change/ Church of climatology, that was supposedly "settled science" indisputable cannon never to be questioned.

    • 3 months ago
  • MarshainFlorida
  • MarshainFlorida
  • MarshainFlorida
  • mitekillem
    • 0
      mitekillem  
    • coolplanet:

      The sun is "settled science". You're not a cosmologist, so I doubt you'd have the capacity to understand. Plus scientists settled this debate decades ago when they discovered nuclear fusion. The science had been peer-reviewed. Where it not correct, then it would've have been caught and corrected years ago. :-7 (tongue-in-cheek)

    • 3 months ago
  • coolplanet
    • +1
      coolplanet  
    • mitekillem:

      So since when are you a cosmologist?
      Science is never really 'settled' or it would merely be religion.
      I have never claimed to be an expert but I do keep up reading the latest accepted science.
      "I am vast. I contain multitudes." ~WW

    • 3 months ago
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