Voyager 2 left the realm of the sun’s influence a year ago today, becoming the 2nd craft ever to do so. This week, the journal Nature Astronomy published 5 new papers describing what Voyager 2 has been seeing on its journey into the unknown. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/voyager-2-new-published-papers-boundary-interstellar-space…
Tag: plasma
Interstellar Space Even Weirder Than Expected, NASA Probe Reveals
New submitter paralumina01 shares a report from National Geographic: In the blackness of space billions of miles from home, NASA’s Voyager 2 marked a milestone of exploration, becoming just the second spacecraft ever to enter interstellar space in November 2018. Now, a day before the anniversary of that celestial exit, scientists have revealed what Voyager 2 saw as it crossed the…
Voyager 2 reaches interstellar space: Scientists detect plasma density jump
Voyager 1 has a companion in the realm of the stars. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-11-voyager-interstellar-space-scientists-plasma.html…
An overlooked piece of the solar dynamo puzzle
A previously unobserved mechanism is at work in the Sun’s rotating plasma: a magnetic instability, which scientists had thought was physically impossible under these conditions. The effect might even play a crucial role in the formation of the Sun’s magnetic field, say researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), the University of Leeds and the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) in the…
Blood transfer from active mice gives lazy ones benefits of exercise
Sedentary mice given blood plasma from active mice see the brain benefits of exercise, including improvements in memory and the birth of new brain cells Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2220992-blood-transfer-from-active-mice-gives-lazy-ones-benefits-of-exercise/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Giant Plasma Guns Could Be the Answer to Limitless Fusion Power
Los Alamos physicists want to combine two fusion-power techniques and finally harness the energy source that powers the sun. Source: https://www.livescience.com/fusion-power-new-method-plasma-guns.html
Analysis of Galileo’s Jupiter entry probe reveals gaps in heat shield modeling
The entry probe of the Galileo mission to Jupiter entered the planet’s atmosphere in 1995 in fiery fashion. As the probe descended from Mach 50 to Mach 1 and generated enough heat to cause plasma reactions on its surface, it relayed data about the burning of its heat shield that differed from the effects predicted in fluid dynamics models. New work…
US Navy Files Patent For Compact Fusion Reactor
Bodhammer shares a report from Popular Mechanics: The U.S. Navy has jumped into the game by filing a patent for a compact fusion reactor, according to exclusive reporting by The War Zone. The success of the device, developed by researcher Salvatore Cezar Pais of the Naval Air Warfare Center — Aircraft Division, relies on a part called a dynamic fusor. According…
Pressure runs high at edge of solar system
Out at the boundary of our solar system, pressure runs high. This pressure, the force plasma, magnetic fields and particles like ions, cosmic rays and electrons exert on one another when they flow and collide, was recently measured by scientists in totality for the first time—and it was found to be greater than expected. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-10-pressure-high-edge-solar.html…
Rocket team: Are solar eruptions messy, or neat?
First all appears quiet. Suddenly, a bright flash lights up the telescope. In an instant, jets of super-heated plasma bloom against the blackness of space. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-09-rocket-team-solar-eruptions-messy.html…