Earth’s magnetic field

A peculiar property of the Earth’s magnetic field could help us to work out how our planet was created 4.5 billion years ago, according to a new scientific assessment. There are several theories about how the Earth and the Moon were formed, most involving a giant impact. They vary from a model where the impacting object strikes the newly formed Earth a glancing blow and then escapes, through to one where the collision is so energetic that both the impactor and the Earth are vaporized. Now scientists at the University of Leeds and the University of Chicago have analysed the dynamics of fluids and electrically conducting fluids and concluded that the Earth must have been magnetized either before the impact Read More ›

Ben Turner writes: Thankfully, the storm is classified as weak. High-speed solar winds from a “hole” in the sun’s atmosphere are set to hit Earth’s magnetic field on Wednesday (Aug 3.), triggering a minor G-1 geomagnetic storm. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) made the prediction after observing that “gaseous material is flowing from a southern hole in the sun’s atmosphere,” according to spaceweather.com.  Coronal holes are areas in the sun’s upper atmosphere where our star’s electrified gas (or plasma) is cooler and less dense. Such holes are also where the sun’s magnetic field lines, instead of looping back in on themselves, beam outward into space. This enables solar material to surge out in a torrent Read More ›