Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Superfast Energetic Electron 'Precipitation' Pelts Our Earth!
I really enjoy the use of weather analogies to describe astrophysics; today's example is a classic.
(Comparison of electron pitch-angle transport caused by wave-driven Landau resonant trapping to transport caused by diffusion.)
a Observed precipitation caused by Landau resonant interaction with whistler-mode waves. The initial electron (of approximately 10 keV) has a pitch angle α outside the loss cone, corresponding to a large radius of gyration (blue) around the magnetic field line (white curve). But after resonant trapping and acceleration (to 60–150 keV) by whistler-mode waves (purple) observed at Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) spacecraft on a near-equatorial orbit (cyan curve), the electron’s pitch angle enters the loss cone (yellow) and it is precipitated (red) toward the atmosphere, as observed by Electron Losses and Fields Investigation (ELFIN) spacecraft on a low-altitude polar orbit (green curve). b Normalized electron phase space density profiles (solid curves) from within the loss cone (yellow range, of maximum pitch angle αLC) to outside it, for weak (grey) and strong (black) diffusion by waves. The electron phase space density within the loss cone remains much smaller than (for weak diffusion) or at most equal to (for strong diffusion) the phase space density of trapped electrons immediately outside the loss cone. c Same as (b) but for Landau resonant nonlinear trapping by intense oblique waves, leading to loss cone overfilling (red) with higher electron phase space density (solid curve) within the loss cone than immediately outside it, and faster electron losses than for strong diffusion.
The researchers observed unexpected, rapid "electron precipitation" from low-Earth orbit using the ELFIN mission, a pair of tiny satellites built and operated on the UCLA campus by undergraduate and graduate students guided by a small team of staff mentors.By combining the ELFIN data with more distant observations from NASA's THEMIS spacecraft, the scientists determined that the sudden downpour was caused by whistler waves, a type of electromagnetic wave that ripples through plasma in space and affects electrons in the Earth's magnetosphere, causing them to "spill over" into the atmosphere.
Here's an early reference from AE van Vogt's The Storm, published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1943:
On the three-dimensional map at weather headquarters on the planet Kaider III, the storm was colored orange. Which meant it was the biggest of the four hundred odd storms raging in the Fifty Suns region of the Lesser Magellanic Cloud. It showed as an uneven splotch fronting at Latitude 473, Longitude 228, Center 190 parsecs, but that was a special Fifty Suns degree system which had no relation to the magnetic center of the Magellanic Cloud as a whole.
(Read more at space weather map)
Via PhysOrg; thanks to @nyrath.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/19/2022)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Space Tech ")
ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...' - Robert Heinlein, 1948.
Sunbird Pulsar Fusion Like Leinster's Space Tug
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.' - Murray Leinster, 1953.
Crystalline Structures In Space, You Say?
A massive space borne lifeform from ST:TNG.
Amazing Photonic Crystal Light Sail
'That sail will be twenty thousand miles at the wide part.' - Cordwainer Smith, 1960.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
Orwell's Nightmare Of AI-Written Novels Comes To Pass
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...'
Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
Outdoor Video Screens Can Be Arbitrarily Large
The Shape of Things To Come
Infrared Contact Lenses To See In The Dark
'I can see in the dark, Case.'
What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells?
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'
Sunbird Pulsar Fusion Like Leinster's Space Tug
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.'
RentAHuman App Lets AI Agents Hire Humans
'She wouldn't stop until Antar had told her everything he knew about whatever it was that she was playing with on her screen.'
Unitree CEO Wang Xingxing Runs With His G1 Robot Army
'Does thinking you're the last sane man on the face of the Earth make you crazy?'
AIs Turn Marxist Under Bad Management
'It was a general strike of the robots...'
Moscow Attacked By Hundreds Of Drones
'It hurtled on down with inconceivable speed until it was visible as thousands of tiny robot planes...'
Nifty Folding Electric Bicycles!
'Separate paths were provided for them...'
FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers
'Then she looked up with a smile and moved closer to the camera.'
Switzerland May Cap Population At Ten Million
'The population of Castle Hagedorn was fixed...'
Project Silica Offers 'Long-Term' Digital Storage
'... folios and tapes and playable discs of platinum alloy.'
