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Space News: Hidden portals in Earth’s magnetic field
A favorite theme of science fiction is “the portal” – an extraordinary opening in space or time that connects travelers to distant realms.
A good portal is a shortcut, a guide, a door into the unknown. If only they actually existed ...
It turns out that they do, sort of, and a NASA-funded researcher at the University of Iowa has figured out how to find them.
“We call them X-points or electron diffusion regions,” explains plasma physicist Jack Scudder of the University of Iowa. “They’re places where the magnetic field of Earth connects to the magnetic field of the Sun, creating an uninterrupted path leading from our own planet to the sun’s atmosphere 93 million miles away.”
Observations by NASA’s THEMIS spacecraft and Europe’s Cluster probes suggest that these magnetic portals open and close dozens of times each day.
They’re typically located a few tens of thousands of kilometers from Earth where the geomagnetic field meets the onrushing solar wind. Most portals are small and short-lived; others are yawning, vast, and sustained.
Tons of energetic particles can flow through the openings, heating Earth’s upper atmosphere, sparking geomagnetic storms, and igniting bright polar auroras.
NASA is planning a mission called “MMS,” short for Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission, due to launch in 2014, to study the phenomenon.
Bristling with energetic particle detectors and magnetic sensors, the four spacecraft of MMS will spread out in Earth’s magnetosphere and surround the portals to observe how they work.
Just one problem: Finding them. Magnetic portals are invisible, unstable, and elusive. They open and close without warning “and there are no signposts to guide us in,” notes Scudder.
Actually, there are signposts, and Scudder has found them.
Portals form via the process of magnetic reconnection. Mingling lines of magnetic force from the sun and Earth criss-cross and join to create the openings.
“X-points” are where the criss-cross takes place. The sudden joining of magnetic fields can propel jets of charged particles from the X-point, creating an “electron diffusion region.”
To learn how to pinpoint these events, Scudder looked at data from a space probe that orbited Earth more than 10 years ago.
“In the late 1990s, NASA’s Polar spacecraft spent years in Earth’s magnetosphere,” explains Scudder, “and it encountered many X-points during its mission.”
Because Polar carried sensors similar to those of MMS, Scudder decided to see how an X-point looked to Polar. “Using Polar data, we have found five simple combinations of magnetic field and energetic particle measurements that tell us when we’ve come across an X-point or an electron diffusion region. A single spacecraft, properly instrumented, can make these measurements.”
This means that single member of the MMS constellation using the diagnostics can find a portal and alert other members of the constellation. Mission planners long thought that MMS might have to spend a year or so learning to find portals before it could study them. Scudder’s work short cuts the process, allowing MMS to get to work without delay.
It’s a shortcut worthy of the best portals of fiction, only this time the portals are real. And with the new “signposts” we know how to find them.
The work of Scudder and colleagues is described in complete detail in the June 1 issue of the Physical Review Letters.
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Lake County Quilt Trail installs ‘Turkey Tracks’ alongside a country road
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Lake County Quilt Trail has installed its latest quilt block, titled “Turkey Tracks.”
Numerous families of turkeys live year round on the property of Lyn and Jim Hilton, 8001 Adobe Creek Road (at the corner of Wight Way), Kelseyville. GPS location: N 38° 56´22¨ W 122° 53´08¨.
“Turkey Tracks” is the quilt block pattern chosen to adorn their barn. The barn was built in the 1920s and is currently being restored with the help of Randall Construction.
Rumor from locals is that the wood for the framing of the original barn was long-ago stolen from the Kelseyville bridge project.
The Hiltons purchased the property in 1998 from Esie “Easy” and Joanne Andrews.
Easy Andrews was a popular entertainer who started out in showbiz by tap dancing in the movies and as an accomplished musician. He became a piano teacher in Lakeport at the old Falconer’s Music Center and at the Bandbox.
During the Andrews’ 25 year stay, the barn was home for livestock, their horse, Troy, and two barn owls. The barn owls decided to stay on to this day.
Lyn Hilton joined the artistic team of Lake County Quilt Trail to assist in painting “Turkey Tracks.” Color choices were all determined to fit in with the barn’s color scheme.
LCQT is an all-volunteer project started in 2010 with seed money from the Kelseyville Pear Festival.
The grass roots art project, begun in 2001 in Adams County, Ohio, continues to spread throughout 30 states. The Lake County Quilt Trail was the very first trail in California.
Completion of Phase III will proudly boast over 35 quilt blocks installed throughout the county.
For more information, visit www.lakecountyquilttrail.com or look at the LCQT site on Facebook.
Authorities seek information about puppies abandoned in garbage dumpster
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control and sheriff’s officials are seeking information on an animal cruelty case involving puppies left to die in a dumpster.
Animal Care and Control Director Bill Davidson said the pups, German Shorthaired Pointer mixes, were discovered early Thursday morning on Hill Road West near Lakeport.
Davidson said a disposal company truck was emptying a dumpster in that area at around 6 a.m. when the driver discovered the litter of puppies.
The driver called the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, and Deputy Mauricio Barreto responded to the location, collecting the puppies and taking them to the shelter, according to Davidson.
Davidson said the cute pups, estimated to be around 3 months old, appeared sickly when they first arrived. The shelter tested them for canine parvovirus, with the tests coming back positive.
Canine parvovirus is an extremely contagious viral disease. Puppies are particularly susceptible, and have a high mortality rate once diagnosed, according to a fact sheet about the disease from the American Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals.
“We have decided to treat them here as best we can,” Davidson said.
Wasson Memorial Veterinary Clinic in Lakeport donated fluids and other supplies and Dr. Anthony Wong, who oversees the shelter’s veterinary clinic, is monitoring the puppies’ condition, Davidson said. Lake County Animal Services has agreed to foster the pups.
Davidson said the puppies’ health appears to be improving.
While the pups are being treated, Davidson said Deputy Barreto “has taken this case to heart and is pursuing the matter himself,” and is determined to find who dumped the puppies.
Anyone with information about the pups and who disposed of them in the dumpster is asked to call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or the Lake County Sheriff’s Office’s nonemergency line at 707-263-2690.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Adoption Minute: Silver and Joey
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Two cat buddies need a brand new home.
Joey and Silver arrived at Lake County Animal Care and Control in Lakeport after living with their former owner in a van.
Joey is a 14-year-old male orange tabby with a short coat. He has green eyes, a kinked tail and has been altered. He’s in cat room kennel No. 55.
Silver is a 9-year-old Siamese mix. He has a short coat and also has been neutered. Silver has beautiful dark blue eyes. He’s in cat room kennel No. 54.
The two cats get along very well, love people and are mellow, friendly and affectionate.
Their adoption costs are $41 each for the general public, or $31 each for seniors.
To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .
Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.
Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .
For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
