Strange new Magnetic Process found in Earth's Outer Atmosphere.

Though close to home, the space immediately around Earth is full of hidden secrets and invisible processes. In a new discovery, scientists working with NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft [MMS] have found a new type of magnetic event in our near-Earth environment.

The magnetic event, known as Magnetic reconnection is one of the most important processes in space - filled with charged particles known as plasma around Earth. 

Reconnection Happens when crossed magnetic field lines snap, explosively flinging away nearby particles at high speeds.This fundamental process dissipates magnetic energy and propels charged particles, both of which contribute to a dynamic space weather system that scientists want to better understand and even someday predict, as we do terrestrial weather. The new discovery found reconnection where it has never been seen before - in turbulent plasma.

"In the plasma universe, there are two important phenomena, magnetic reconnection and turbulence," said Tai Phan, a senior fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and lead author on the study. "This discovery bridges these two processes."

Magnetic reconnection has been observed innumerable times in the magnetosphere, the magnetic environment around Earth but usually under calm conditions. 

The new event occurred in a region called the magnetosheath, just outside the outer boundary of the magnetosphere, where the solar wind is extremely turbulent. 

Previously, scientists didn't know if reconnection even could occur there, as the plasma is highly chaotic in that region. MMS found it does, but on scales much smaller than previous spacecraft could probe.

MMS uses four identical spacecraft flying in a pyramid formation to study magnetic reconnection around Earth in three dimensions. Because the spacecraft fly incredibly close together, they are able to observe the phenomena no one has seen before. 

Magnetic reconnection occurs throughout the universe, so that when we learn about it around our planet where it's easiest for Earthlings to examine it, we can apply that information to other processes farther away. 

The finding of reconnection in turbulence has implications, for example, for studies on the Sun. It may help scientists understand the role magnetic reconnection plays in heating the inexplicably hot solar corona -- the Sun's outer atmosphere -- and accelerating the supersonic solar wind. 

Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Source: Nasa.gov