News tagged with earths magnetic

Reversals of Earth's Magnetic Field Explained by Small Core Fluctuations

(PhysOrg.com) -- Based on studies of old volcanic basalt, scientists know that the Earth’s magnetic field reverses at irregular intervals, ranging from tens of thousands to millions of years. Volcanic basalt ...

Physics / General Physics

created Apr 23, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (53) | comments 24 feature

Maglev track could launch spacecraft into orbit

(PhysOrg.com) -- With the aim to make it easier to launch spacecraft into low Earth orbit (LEO), two researchers have turned to maglev technology to catapult a payload hundreds of miles above the Earth. While ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 13, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (58) | comments 37 | with audio podcast report

Mercury's magnetic field -- nipped in the bud

(PhysOrg.com) -- Mercury, the smallest of the eight planets with a diameter of 4900 kilometres and the closest to the Sun, looks more like the Moon than the Earth from the outside. It is the only rocky planet ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 23, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 27 | with audio podcast

Meteorite holds clues to organic chemistry of the early Earth: study

(PhysOrg.com) -- Carbonaceous chondrites are a type of organic-rich meteorite that contain samples of the materials that took part in the creation of our planets nearly 4.6 billion years ago, including materials ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jun 09, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Ground-based lasers vie with satellites to map Earth's magnetic field

(PhysOrg.com) -- Mapping the Earth's magnetic field – to find oil, track storms or probe the planet's interior – typically requires expensive satellites.

Physics / General Physics

created Feb 14, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (12) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

First measurement of magnetic field in Earth's core

(PhysOrg.com) -- A University of California, Berkeley, geophysicist has made the first-ever measurement of the strength of the magnetic field inside Earth's core, 1,800 miles underground.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 16, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (19) | comments 10 | with audio podcast

Evidence of second fast north-south pole flip found

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Earth's magnetic poles flip around every 200,000 years or so, with north becoming south and vice versa. Normally, the process takes 4-5,000 years and it ought to be impossible for the ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Sep 06, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (44) | comments 29 | with audio podcast report

Spacequakes Rumble Near Earth (w/ Video)

Researchers using NASA's fleet of five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a form of space weather that packs the punch of an earthquake and plays a key role in sparking bright Northern Lights. They call it ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 28, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (21) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Silver tells a volatile story of Earth's origin: Water was present during its birth

Tiny variations in the isotopic composition of silver in meteorites and Earth rocks are helping scientists put together a timetable of how our planet was assembled beginning 4.568 billion years ago. The new ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 13, 2010 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (19) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Oldest measurement of Earth's magnetic field reveals battle between Sun and Earth for our atmosphere

Scientists at the University of Rochester have discovered that the Earth's magnetic field 3.5 billion years ago was only half as strong as it is today, and that this weakness, coupled with a strong wind of ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Mar 04, 2010 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (22) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Uranus auroras glimpsed from Earth

(Phys.org) -- For the first time, scientists have captured images of auroras above the giant ice planet Uranus, finding further evidence of just how peculiar a world that distant planet is. Detected by means ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 13, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (6) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

IBEX and TWINS join forces to observe a solar storm

(Phys.org) -- On April 5, 2010, the sun spewed a two million-mile-per-hour stream of charged particles toward the invisible magnetic fields surrounding Earth, known as the magnetosphere. As the particles interacted ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 12, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Hitachi unveils motor without 'rare earths'

Japanese high-tech firm Hitachi Wednesday unveiled an electric motor that does not use "rare earths", aiming to cut costs and reduce dependence on imports of the scarce minerals from China.

Technology / Engineering

created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (25) | comments 18

Clean energy could lead to scarce materials

As the world moves toward greater use of low-carbon and zero-carbon energy sources, a possible bottleneck looms, according to a new MIT study: the supply of certain metals needed for key clean-energy technologies.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Apr 09, 2012 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (8) | comments 25 | with audio podcast

Space weather: Explosions on Venus

In the grand scheme of the solar system, Venus and Earth are almost the same distance from the sun. Yet the planets differ dramatically: Venus is some 100 times hotter than Earth and its days more than 200 ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 05, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (9) | comments 8 | with audio podcast