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A Sixth Region In the Magnetosphere
Posted by
timothy
on Sun Dec 14, 2008 02:19 PM
from the difracting-imposed-distinctions dept.
from the difracting-imposed-distinctions dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "As you probably know, Earth's magnetosphere, 'the invisible bubble of magnetic fields and electrically charged particles that surrounds and protects the planet from the periodically lethal radiation of the solar wind,' was discovered in 1958. Until now, it was believed to comprise five regions, including the ionosphere or the Van Allen radiation belts. Now, a US research team has discovered a sixth region, called the warm plasma cloak."
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It's velvety soft, too (Score:5, Funny)
At least according to Magneto, who says he's been sleeping in it since it was discovered.
Eh, I've had better (Score:1, Funny)
Replied the magnetosphere, in reference to the above comment.
Re: (Score:1, Funny)
Are you saying it has a different orientation? Perhaps it would prefer Polaris?
Huh. (Score:1, Interesting)
What is the impact of this discovery, to those who don't understand?
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It's kind of like a magnetic sleeveless trench coat. I mean, it is a cloak, right?
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I have no freaking clue, man.
Oh, wait, you said to those who don't understand, not from.
Warm plasma cloak = Earth's Blankie? (Score:5, Funny)
Earth wants its blankie! Elmo can't have it.
Now we see it (Score:1, Funny)
Its been a warm, fuzzy protector for years, but we are only now waking up to see what it truly is.
Um, I for one welcome our newly found warm plasma overlords!
Mmmm toasty... (Score:1)
Re:Mmmm toasty... (Score:5, Funny)
Go to any swingers' club and loudly announce that you want to be covered in warm plasma.
Parent
Re:Mmmm toasty... (Score:5, Funny)
Impossible! You need to take a girl with you or they won't let you in.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't get how they actually got the name. Did it have a label on it when they found it? Did they ask it what its name is?
Seems to me that that should read "Now, a US research team has discovered a sixth region, and have called it the warm plasma cloak."
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Meh, it's all fire damage. Useless to hunters.
Fail (Score:2)
Vanderbilt's website.
ohnoitsroland (Score:5, Informative)
Isn't it time to stop with the "ohnoitsroland" tags? While the guy used to annoy the hell out of me with his blogwhoring links, he actually cleaned up his act - his contributions nowadays link to real articles instead of his blog, and some of the stuff he links to is actually quite good...
/Posting anonymously to avoid the -1 Offtopic mods I'm sure to get
Re:ohnoitsroland (Score:4, Funny)
Start tagging his articles "hoorayitsroland" and everyone else will join in.
Parent
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Isn't it time to stop with the "ohnoitsroland" tags?
Slashdot tradition is more important than any one single person here. It's bigger than any of us, except maybe Natalie Portman, petrified.
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"Anonymous (Coward) never forgives"
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Sure, just as soon as the Eds post the accepted/rejected ratio for Roland so we can see how it compares with the rest of us.
Hang about. Have you looked at the firehose? The amount of crap that gets submitted to the editors is just amazing. Roland seems to be good at writing just the right amount to make a good story, and so gets accepted frequently. Got a beef with it? Write plenty of good stories yourself. (It's very hard to do well; I've tried...)
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You do realize that the question of Roland's accepted/rejected ratio and his apparent Slashdot spam has been a hot topic here LOOOONG before the firehose was created right? It isn't just "good writing" that gets him posted.
Only wraps around 3/4 of the planet... (Score:5, Funny)
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It seems we have already succumbed to Global Fattening.
Strange how Texas always seems to be the epicenter for these things.
Re:Only wraps around 3/4 of the planet... (Score:5, Insightful)
How is that a troll?
It's funny and pretty accurate. The US is one of the fattest nations on the planet, and most of the fattest cities are located in Texas. This has been documented.
That's not a troll unless you happen to be an obese Texan with mod points. Sadly I can neither moderate nor meta-moderate right now, but that 0 Troll is undeserved.
Parent
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You know, some people actually believe that to be literally true.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjgidAICoQI [youtube.com]
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Uh oh... (Score:1, Funny)
Warm Plasma in a bottle (Score:2)
So, will my solid-state ham radio still work or will I have to dig out the vacuum tube rig?
stupid parsing brain (Score:4, Funny)
So I was sitting here trying to figure out how there could be a sixth religion, much less any religion, in the magnetosphere.
Further proof, as if any were needed, that I am a Dork.
As you probably know... (Score:3, Funny)
Warm plasma cloak (Score:1, Funny)
+ 60 stamina
+ 100 defense
+ 10 agility
[can only be worn by large solestial bodies]
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"Warm Plasma Cloak" sounded more like a spell damage cloak if you asked me... probably with mp5 or spirit which would fit my priest quite nicely.
say ....what? (Score:1)
I am not sure how to take this, are we supposed to now split the ozone into continents, and know which of these continents represent which area.....seriously, I believe that the ozone as one layer
no need to waste time splicing up the ozone into regions, unless you plan to patent something in a particular zone a la M$.
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Ah. So you see the atmosphere and magnetosphere as this large "thing" about which the only interesting tid-bit would be the Ozone layer? Did you read the Article? Or this wiki [wikipedia.org]? Or anything on our solar system for that matter?
The Ozone layer predominantly exists in the Stratosphere and it has no inherent connection to this article about the Magnetosphere. Let's just put it like this: Ozone layer makes sure we don't die because of too high concentrations of high frequency UV. The Magnetosphere makes sure we d
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Your right, absolutely right when you say I did not read the article...
But you did not answer my question, even though you did educate me on the difference abouit the ozone layer and the magnetic layer (thanks for that).
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF DEFINING REGIONS TO THE MAGNETOSPHERE?
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It's good to know that there are separate regions and their approximate locations. This will help some future student understand some strange phenomena he/she has noticed. This will lead to a better model of just what the magneto-shere is and does.
This may help people locate and identify planets with the potential for life by identifying their magneto-spheres. This may also help us understand just what we need to survive here, as in Global Warming.
Y
7th Region (Score:3, Funny)
There's a 7th region just beyond the 6th region, but it's not been discovered yet.
I for one (Score:2, Funny)
Magnetosphere (Score:1)
Do we care? (Score:1)
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Possible punch-lines:
Al Gore, is that you?
Let me go out on a limb here and say you drive a hybrid and think people who don't are "ignorant"...
Quick, everyone turn on all your electrical devices to help reinforce Earth's magnetic field!
Yummy (Score:2)
Mmmmmm, a warm plasma cloak, covered in rich dark chocolate, and inside is a chewy nougat center!
Not quite right... (Score:1, Funny)
Warm Plasma Cloak and Dagger (Score:1, Funny)
Obligatory xkcd (Score:1, Offtopic)