NASA Finally Has a Measurement of Earth’s Third Field After More Than 60 Years
Our planet has a magnetic field which not only protects us from cosmic radiation, but it also allows things like compasses to work. However, experts now say they have detected another field surrounding our planet for the first time, and this one is electric.
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00:00Our planet has a magnetic field, which not only protects us from cosmic radiation, but
00:08it also allows things like compasses to work.
00:10However, experts now say they have detected another field surrounding our planet for the
00:14first time, and this one is electric.
00:17They're calling it the M-bipolar field.
00:19It's a weak electric field that has been theorized for over 60 years, but experts were only just
00:23able to measure it recently.
00:25All planets with atmospheres should have one, with astronomers from NASA saying, now that
00:29we finally measured it, we can begin learning how it shaped our planet as well as others
00:33over time.
00:34The field was first noticed when astronauts initially went to space in the 1960s, as a
00:39supersonic jet stream of particles was detected exiting our atmosphere.
00:43However, despite believing it was there, we lacked the tech to measure it, which is why
00:47the Endurance rocket was built.
00:49The rocket and its instruments traveled up to an altitude of just over 477 miles, taking
00:54measurements.
00:55So how strong is Earth's third field?
00:58They say it only measures 0.55 volts, or about one-third the power of a AA battery.