Focus on Our Magnetic Planet
By PhysOrg, source:ESA

     
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Mission controllers cross their fingers whenever the Sun is stormy and their spacecraft have to fly over the South Atlantic. There, even satellites in low orbits suffer many hits by atomic bullets from the Sun. Troublesome faults occur in electronic systems and astronauts see flashes in their eyes. The Earth’s magnetic field, which shields our planet against charged atomic particles coming from outer space, is curiously weak in that region.

Image: Swarm is a constellation of three satellites. Two of them will fly at an initial altitude of 450 km, with the third at 550 km. This Earth Explorer mission should provide highly detailed visualisations of the Earth's magnetic field.

The South Atlantic Anomaly, as the experts call it, is one pressing reason why they are intensifying their exploration of the Earth’s magnetism. Denmark’s Orsted satellite, launched in 1999, is dedicated to magnetic research, whilst Germany’s CHAMP mission (2000) measures both magnetism and gravity. These satellites show that the danger zone for satellites over Brazil and the South Atlantic is growing wider towards the southern Indian Ocean.

The Earth’s magnetic field is becoming generally weaker at an astonishing rate. When a French-Danish team compared Orsted’s results for 2000 with those from an American satellite, Magsat, 20 years earlier, the decline in the field’s strength suggested that it might disappear completely in a thousand years or so. The experts wonder if our planet is preparing to swap its north and south magnetic poles around, as it has often done before during the Earth’s long history.

These and other mysteries about our magnetic planet will get the closer attention they deserve, in ESA’s forthcoming Swarm project. Three satellites will work together to measure the magnetic field and its variations far more accurately than ever before. The Swarm mission was proposed to ESA by Eigil Friis-Christensen (Copenhagen), Hermann Lühr (Potsdam) and Gauthier Hulot (Paris) with support from scientists in seven European countries and the USA. ESA selected the project in 2004 as an 'opportunity mission' in its Earth Explorer programme. All being well, Swarm will be operational by 2009.

After climbing into space on a single launcher, the satellites will adopt orbits passing over the Earth’s poles. Swarm A and B will fly side by side, simultaneously measuring the magnetic field from positions up to 150 kilometres apart in the east-west direction near the equator. Their orbits will at first be 450 kilometres above the surface, but by the end of the mission they will come as low as 300 kilometres, for more accurate measurements of magnetism originating from the Earth’s crust.

Swarm C will always fly higher, remaining at more than 500 kilometres altitude throughout the mission. Compared with its sisters, Swarm C will give simultaneous snapshots of the magnetic field over quite different regions of the Earth, and impressions of the same region at different times of day.

Separating the different sources of magnetism

Ordinary magnetic compasses obey the main magnetic field, produced by electric currents in the Earth’s core of molten iron. But in magnetic storms, compass needles wander. Since the 19th Century scientists have linked these storms to eruptions on the Sun. Many space ventures, recently including the ESA-NASA SOHO spacecraft and ESA’s four-satellite Cluster mission, have helped to clarify the solar connection.

We live in a protective bubble in space called the magnetosphere. At its boundary, gusts in a non-stop solar wind of atomic particles battle with the Earth’s magnetism. As a result, events in outer space make a continual but highly variable contribution to the magnetic field. So do electric currents in the ionosphere, the zone of free electrons and charged air molecules high in the atmosphere that’s best known for reflecting radio signals.

Other, much weaker patterns are overlaid on the global picture. In the Earth’s crust, many rocks have built-in magnetism that remembers the direction of the main magnetic field when they formed. This affects the field measured locally. By its subtle east-west comparisons Swarm will picture the magnetic field of the crust with unprecedented clarity. And even ocean water generates electric currents as it move in the main field, so that the ebb and flow of the tides have a slight magnetic effect.

As gauged by the satellites, the main field is roughly 6,000 times stronger than the rock magnetism of the ocean floor, and 30,000 times greater than the influence of the oceanic tides. Only with delicate measurements by satellite constellations, supported by ground stations, ships and aircraft carrying magnetic instruments, can scientists sort out all the patterns of magnetism from the different sources.

The most careful analyses reveal yet another effect. Magnetic variations drive electric currents in the mantle, the main region between the core and the crust. These in turn cause further magnetic changes, from which scientists can estimate the electrical conductivity of the mantle. This provides a check on the temperature of the material hidden deep in the Earth’s interior.

"What excites us is the huge scope of what we can study even with quite small satellites," comments Nils Olsen of the Danish National Space Center in Copenhagen, who analyses Orsted’s results while he helps to plan Swarm. "By making magnetic measurements in space we get new information about the Earth, from the molten core deep under our feet, through the mantle, to the crust on which we live. And then we go on upwards into the upper atmosphere, through the planet’s local space environment, and all the way to the Sun itself, which is the source of daily magnetic disturbances."

Practical benefits

Solar storms can be fatal for satellites, and not only on account of radiation damage. The atmosphere inflates and low-orbiting spacecraft run into unexpected air resistance. Experts used to think it was just a matter of the air being heated by particles and electric currents in the regions around the poles, where auroras occur. Now a sensitive French-built accelerometer on the German CHAMP satellite has revealed heating by intense currents where the solar wind pushes towards the magnetic poles in daytime. The three Swarm satellites will investigate this new effect with accelerometers of their own.

Swarm’s operational lifetime, 2009-13, will coincide with the next expected peak of storminess on the Sun. Immediate practical benefits will centre on Swarm’s general monitoring of space weather, and the solar events affecting not just spacecraft and astronauts but technological systems on the ground as well. Magnetic storms can damage power systems and pipelines, whilst the changes in the magnetic field can mislead any navigational systems that use magnetic compasses. These include compasses operating underground to guide the drills used to find and recover oil.

For scientists, the biggest benefit of Swarm is that high-quality magnetic measurements provide a new way of 'x-raying' the hidden interior of planet. Earthquake waves and variations in the strength of gravity already provide a picture of the hot core, the rocky mantle that surrounds it, and the ever-active crust. But the picture is not yet clear enough for scientists to agree how the internal machinery of the planet really works.

"Magnetic measurements give a fresh point of view on the Earth’s interior," says Roger Haagmans, who is responsible for solid-Earth science in ESA’s Earth Observation programme. "And Swarm will also investigate the puzzling changes in the Earth’s core that are responsible for the present weakening of the magnetic field. That’s already a matter of practical concern for many satellite operators. With a better idea of the reasons, we may know what to expect in the busy decades of spaceflight that we have ahead of us."

podobno privlači podobno 8)

http://www.gape.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=samanizem;action=display;num=1106...

drgač pa nič čudnega....


http://www.gape.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=general;action=display;num=106693...

smo že tu obdelovali temo,

pa zanimiva slikca, še 1x:

Lab monkeys 'scream with fear' in tests

Sandra Laville
Tuesday February 8, 2005
The Guardian

Secret documents describing how some monkeys can scream in misery, fear and anger during experiments were produced in the high court yesterday as evidence that the laws intended to protect laboratory animals are being flouted.

Excerpts from Cambridge University internal papers - one of several sites where primate research is carried out - give laboratory technicians and scientists advice on how to deal with problems during and after experiments. Presented in court by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), they describe occasions when primates are "screaming, trying to get out of the box, defecating", and state: "This is an angry animal."

Scientists and technicians are advised in the documents to "punish" the bad habits of the monkeys, stating that these bad habits include the normal self-grooming.

Richard Drabble QC, for the BUAV, told the high court yesterday that the documents contradict the general public perception that animals are well cared for and protected under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

Making an application for judicial review of the legality of lab practices, he also alleged that brain-damaged monkeys at Cambridge were not provided with the 24-hour veterinary care which the government's own guidance states is necessary.

David Thomas, the solicitor for BUAV, said: "Cambridge staff work 9-5pm, so animals who had just been brain damaged were left overnight without veterinary attention.

"Some were found to be dead in the morning, some were found to be in a worse condition. Yet there is an obligation of licence holders to keep suffering to a minimum. The whole system is very secretive and the public does not get to see what is really going on."

The court challenge comes after the government's chief inspector of animals dismissed the findings of a 10-month undercover investigation by BUAV into three research programmes at Cambridge in 1998. BUAV claimed they discovered monkeys which had the tops of their heads sawn off in order for a stroke to be induced and were then left for 15 hours without veterinary attention.

But the court heard that after reviewing the licence to Cambridge for the three programmes, and some of the other 4,000 testing licences granted in England and Wales, the chief inspector of animals gave a clean bill of health to all establishments.

For the home secretary, Jonathan Swift said the application for a judicial review should be dismissed. He said the chief inspector of animals had concluded that the decisions taken each time the licences were granted had been sound and the home secretary had accepted these findings.

Mr Swift said the granting of licences was case-specific and highly fact-sensitive. The home secretary had to "weigh the likely adverse effects on the animals concerned against the benefit likely to accrue as a result of the programme".

The three programmes Cambridge was carrying out involved research into degenerative brain diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Time to Upgrade Your Consciousness?

“Think Different!”
Apple Computer Slogan

Do you ever feel like you’d like to reboot your brain, clear out memory and start over with
fewer conflicts and increased resources? While computers are often compared to the human brain,
our brains don’t really work that way. But what if we could manage our mind like we manage our
computer system? Would it be time for a consciousness upgrade? Some people enjoy using DOS, CP/M
or Apple II computers, but if you are keeping up with the technology you will know that a newer
operating system will let you do more a lot more easily. If you are operating your brain in the
same frame of mind you had 10 or more years ago, you are probably underpowered and working too
hard.
If you were born in the 1940s or 50s and were working with the same mental operating system you
grew up with, you would probably often feel that you are the victim of circumstances. Your
emotions would be a mystery to you. You would not have the ability to alter them. You would get
angry easily and not know what to do about it. You might see your mind as purely a function of
brain activity. You would see the operation of mind and body as quite separate. You would be
eating a diet high in fat and cholesterol. When you exercised, you would never drink water,
because it might give you a cramp. You would not lift weights, because it would make you muscle
bound and slow. You would sleep with rollers in your hair if female and put oil on your hair if
male. You would not consider going to a nice restaurant, church or the airport dressed casually.
You would be certain that males are superior to females, the weaker sex. If male, you would be
unable to cry. If ordered to go to war you would do it unquestioningly. You would be good at
following orders. You would not question your religion. You would see other religions as deeply
flawed or very weird. You would believe that race is a very significant difference between
people. If you were running the white version of your mental operating system, you would believe
that colored people (you would call them that or something less polite) are inferior. You would
not expect them to do well in business, sports or education. Your expansion slot related to gay
people would be empty. You would work hard, but probably see your success, or lack of it, as
largely dependent on luck. You would think that sexual abuse was very rare and striking family
members would be considered acceptable if you were the adult and especially if you were male.
You would strive to be rational. Your body awareness would not be running in the upper memory
area. You would not know about wizards. Your connectivity would be limited. Your mental screen
might be black and white.

Keeping in mind that partial upgrades are possible, let’s look at what we might get if we
upgrade to the Millennium Edition Brain Operating System (ME BOS). One of the first things you
will notice is that this is an open architecture system. You can control what you put into your
thinking and behavior. With the upgrade, you feel more in charge of your own destiny. You have a
greater appreciation of the old computer concept of “Garbage In, Garbage Out.” You take control
and responsibility for the information you download to your brain from the media and other
sources. You know that to live a happy life you need to focus on the good.

You have increased awareness of your emotions and you know that your thoughts play an important
role in forming and directing your feelings. You know you can set your word processor to
positive mode so that what comes out of your mouth is helpful to others, and what you think is
helpful to you.

You have more control over your body. You have access to an incredible database of exercise and
stress reduction techniques to help you become strong, flexible and relaxed. You can also create
multimedia experiences using imagery and visualization to calm the mind and help the body heal
itself.

Your new system comes with a wide universal bus that provides better access to the cosmic
network. You know that through prayer and meditation you can reach higher levels of mental/
spiritual awareness. You can tap into the ultimate power source without interference from
network administrators telling you how and when you can log on.

Your new operating system includes:

Acceptance of full responsibility for your responses to the events of your life.
Breathing as a method of increasing awareness and otherwise altering mental states.
Ability to handle 3-D and millions of colors. You are able to see people and events in their
complexity.
Peer to Peer networking: all people are accepted as valuable and born with the same rights.
Full integration with the cosmos. You sense you are a part of the big picture.
Non-artificial intelligence. Intuition is valued along with reason. Synchronicity is welcomed as
an additional source of input in decision making.
Mindfulness. No longer an esoteric concept but something you practice every day, every moment.
Healing through the use of mental imagery, directing bio-energy, and adjustment of mental
attitude.
The power of intention.
A whole mind/body package: increased awareness of the need for good nutrition, exercise and rest,
as well as acceptance that the way you think is dependent on the way you take care of your body,
and the way you feel is dependent on the way you think.
A wide range of meditation technologies. Regardless of their original source, meditation
techniques are seen as useful tools for mental and spiritual development and good for physical
health.
Think about how you run your life and your mind. Are you getting all you can out of life? Do you
feel empowered, balanced, in harmony with the world? Maybe it’s time to upgrade your
consciousness. There is no single download site, and while the upgrade can be instantaneous for
some, it can be a slow hard process for others. You have to ask yourself, “Where do I want to go
this lifetime?”

http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v382/__show_article/_a000382-000013.htm

Are Relationships Our Mirrors?
by Shakti Gawain

If we learn to see our relationships as the wonderfully accurate mirrors they are, revealing to us where we need to go with our own inner process, we can see much about ourselves that we would otherwise have a great deal of difficulty learning.

One of the biggest differences between the path of the material world, the path of transcendence, and the path of transformation is in how we view our relationships.

On the material path we see relationships as an end in themselves. We form relationships of various kinds in order to satisfy our needs for love, companionship, security, stimulation, sexual fulfillment, financial stability, and so on. Our focus tends to be on the external form of the relationship and on what is being exchanged, be it friendship, work, affection, respect, money, or security. Because we view relationships primarily in the light of getting needs met, we tend to try to control them, to try to make them the way we want them. Consciously or unconsciously, we try to manipulate other people in order to get what we want from them. The control we assert limits how we experience our relationships.

On the path of transcendence, relationships are often viewed as impediments that keep us from evolving beyond the physical form. Because our relationships bring out all of our human feelings, needs, and emotional attachments, they are seen as distractions and thus detrimental to our spiritual journey. People who are seriously committed to the transcendent path try to stay as unattached as possible. Since sexuality is such a strong force physically and emotionally, involving our animal instincts and human feelings, it is often looked upon as the opposite of spirituality. Therefore, many devotees of the transcendent path either take a vow of celibacy and try to avoid sex altogether, or they try to transmute it into a "higher" energy, following sacred disciplines that keep the experience focused on its spiritual aspects.
Embracing Our Humanness

On the path of transformation we embrace both our humanness and our spirituality. Instead of attempting to escape or ignore them, we honor our human needs for relationship, and we learn to be more conscious of how to communicate those needs and how to take good care of ourselves and each other in the process. We also recognize that we are spiritual beings, not limited to our human form and emotions, but connected to the unlimited oneness of the universe. Rather than denying our sexuality, we embrace it as one of the most important expressions of our life force.

On the path of transformation there is a further vital step we must take, one that allows us to have a different perspective on relationships than we would if we followed a material or spiritual path. On the transformational path we need to recognize that our relationships can be powerful mirrors, reflecting back to us what we need to learn. When we learn how to use these reflections, our relationships can become one of the most powerful avenues we have for becoming conscious.

Our primary relationship is really with ourselves. Each of us is involved in developing all aspects of our being and bringing them into relationship with one another -- becoming whole. Our relationships with other people continually reflect exactly where we are in that process. For example, for many years I yearned to find the right man to be my life partner. I created many relationships with men who were unavailable or inappropriate in certain ways. Eventually, I realized they were reflecting my own inner ambivalence about committed relationship and the ways that I didn't truly love myself. It was only after I did some deep emotional healing work, learning to truly love and be committed to myself, that I met a wonderful man who is now my husband.

If we learn to see our relationships as the wonderfully accurate mirrors they are, revealing to us where we need to go with our own inner process, we can see much about ourselves that we would otherwise have a great deal of difficulty learning. Any and every relationship in our lives -- with our friends, co-workers, neighbors, our children and other family members as well as our primary partners -- can be a reflection to us in this way. Even an encounter with a stranger can sometimes be an important learning experience.

It's very difficult to look inside ourselves and see what's going on in there -- particularly to see what we're unaware o£ That's why it's important to look at our relationships as mirrors of our inner processes. Used in this way, relationships become one of the most valuable sources of healing and teaching in our lives. To understand how this works, we need to remind ourselves that we each, through our individual consciousness, create and shape how we experience external reality. This is as true in our relationships as in every other area of our lives -- the relationships we create and shape reflect back to us what we are holding within our consciousness. We draw to us and are drawn to people who match and reflect some aspect of ourselves.

Generally, we find that the easiest people to get along with are those who reflect aspects of ourselves that we feel comfortable with and accept -- reflections of our primary selves, or complementary energies that we appreciate. These are usually people who we consciously seek out or are drawn to in everyday friendship. If you are primarily a physically active person who loves sports, you may feel most comfortable with people who are similarly athletic. On the other hand, you may also enjoy a relationship with a friend who is somewhat more intellectual and less physical than you because it stretches your mind in a way that you accept and enjoy -- it stimulates a less-developed aspect of you in a way that is comfortable and non-confrontational. Your friend is reflecting your intellectual self, and you may be reflecting his or her physical or athletic self. In this case, you are both comfortable with the reflections you are receiving, so the relationship is a harmonious one.

6258 -6-2  = at 4:58am

m wrote on 24.02.2005 at 09:06:05:

pa dej ti marjana mal vec zavedanaj pa mal manj ega :rfl:

Kali seje semena čudaštava po svetu pogovorov na svoj običjano čuden način.  8)

Ali pa m hoče namignt, da morda na že malo neobičajno čuden način?  

Al pa samo jest hočem  v tistem, na kar namiguje m, videt to neobčajno  čudnost    

Najbrž itak  zato, ker se "čudne" stvari dogajo in se zato običajno čudne stvari kažejo na neobičjano čuden način.  

Satellites track strange 'Earth energy'

Santa Cruz, CA, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists said they have observed in detail a source of high-energy gamma rays that originate on Earth, not from outer space.

Scientists using NASA's High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager satellite said they have detected flashes of gamma-ray energy in the planet's upper atmosphere. The satellite was designed to study X-rays and gamma rays from solar flares, but it also can detect gamma rays from a variety of sources.

The scientists, at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and elsewhere said the energy bursts are called terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, or TGFs. They are very short blasts of gamma rays, lasting about one-thousandth of a second and emitted into space by electrons traveling at 99.99 percent of the speed of light.

Originally discovered in 1994, the origin of TGFs has remained a mystery. The best guess at present is they are generated by the build-up of electrical charges at the tops of thunder clouds due to lightning discharges.

TGFs have been correlated with lightning strikes, the scientists said.

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050222-074744-5712r.htm

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