Scientists Discover Strange, Giant Portals That Connect the Sun and Earth
Like "cosmic chutes" every 8 minutes a portal opens up between the sun and the Earth. "They are often brief, bursty, and very dynamic. They're real."
REPORTER'S NOTE: Recently I have found myself pondering the role of magnetism, not just on earth as it pertains to our planet's magnetic poles, but also the intrinsic role it plays between the moon and the Earth (the tides), the Earth and the sun, and even in nature (men vs. women, etc.). Indeed, it appears that some form of magnetism is holding the entire universe together. With that in mind, I took the concept of magnetism to a spiritual level, wondering if God's love for us is some sort of a divine drawing to Himself; some powerful, irresistible supernatural tugging in His direction. Or, I mused, could this be what happens in prayer? A dynamic "connection" with our Father? Just a thought.... –Teresa Neumann, BCN.
A report in ScienceDaily starts out: "During the time it takes you to read this article, something will happen high overhead that until recently many scientists didn't believe in. A magnetic portal will open, linking Earth to the sun 93 million miles away. Tons of high-energy particles may flow through the opening before it closes again, around the time you reach the end of the page." (Credit: Image courtesy of Science@NASA)
"It's called a flux transfer event or 'FTE,'" says space physicist David Sibeck of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "Ten years ago I was pretty sure they didn't exist, but now the evidence is incontrovertible."
According to the report, researchers have long known that the Earth and sun must be connected because Earth's magnetosphere is filled with particles from the sun that arrive via the solar wind and penetrate the planet's magnetic defenses. They reportedly enter by following magnetic field lines that can be traced from Earth all the way back to the sun's atmosphere. FTEs can apparently be active or passive depending on the amount of resistance resident within a particular "portal."
"We used to think the connection was permanent and that solar wind could trickle into the near-Earth environment anytime the wind was active," says Sibeck. "We were wrong. The connections are not steady at all. They are often brief, bursty and very dynamic."
At an international assembly of space physicists at the 2008 Plasma Workshop in Huntsville, Alabama, several speakers explained how FTEs form saying that approximately every eight minutes, the two magnetic fields briefly merge or "reconnect," forming a portal through which particles can flow. The portal, they note, takes the form of a magnetic cylinder about as wide as Earth. Indeed, according to the report, the European Space Agency's fleet of four Cluster spacecraft and NASA's five THEMIS probes have flown through and surrounded these cylinders, measuring their dimensions and sensing the particles that shoot through.
"They're real," says Sibeck.
