Magnetic Field Alignments
While researching the aurorae of the Jovian planets in our solar system (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) I discovered a very interesting correlation between their magnetic fields. As the above graphic clearly shows, regardless of their angle of rotation in relation to the orbital plane of the solar system, the axis of the planets’ magnetic fields more or less remain perpendicular to the orbital plane. Earth’s and even the extremely weak magnetic field of Mercury […]
Pluto’s unexpected surface and moons
The New Horizons mission team reported several unusual findings concerning Pluto this week at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). Among the biggest was the discovery of two large and distinct mountains that New Horizons geologists think could be recently active “cryovolcanoes”. So-called cryovolcanoes are thought to spew a semi-frozen slurry of water ice, nitrogen or other gases instead of fire, smoke and lava […]
New Horizons spacecraft detects Pluto plasma tail
NASA reports that the New Horizons spacecraft has detected a tail of plasma streaming behind Pluto at a distance between 48,000 miles (77,000 km) and 68,000 miles (109,000 km). This plasma was detected by New Horizons’ Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument and is comprised of nitrogen ions that have escaped from Pluto’s thin atmosphere. It is theorized by NASA that “escaping molecules” are ionized by solar ultraviolet light, “picked up” by the solar wind, […]
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