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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Eight and a half years into its grand tour of the solar system, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft was ready for another encounter. It was Jan. 24, 1986, and soon it would meet the mysterious seventh planet, icy-cold Uranus.
Over the next few hours, Voyager 2 flew within 50,600 miles (81,433 kilometers) of Uranus' cloud tops, collecting data that revealed two new rings, 11 new moons and temperatures below minus 353 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 214 degrees Celsius). The dataset is still the only up-close measurements we have ever made of the planet.
Three decades later, scientists reinspecting that data found one more secret.
Unbeknownst to the entire space physics community, 34 years ago Voyager 2 flew through a plasmoid, a giant magnetic bubble that may have been whisking Uranus's atmosphere out to space. The finding, reported in Geophysical Research Letters, raises new questions about the planet's one-of-a-kind magnetic environment.
[...] Readings from inside the plasmoid — as Voyager 2 flew through it — hinted at its origins. Whereas some plasmoids have a twisted internal magnetic field, DiBraccio and Gershman observed smooth, closed magnetic loops. Such loop-like plasmoids are typically formed as a spinning planet flings bits of its atmosphere to space. "Centrifugal forces take over, and the plasmoid pinches off," Gershman said. According to their estimates, plasmoids like that one could account for between 15 and 55% of atmospheric mass loss at Uranus, a greater proportion than either Jupiter or Saturn. It may well be the dominant way Uranus sheds its atmosphere to space.
How has plasmoid escape changed Uranus over time? With only one set of observations, it's hard to say.
"Imagine if one spacecraft just flew through this room and tried to characterize the entire Earth," DiBraccio said. "Obviously it's not going to show you anything about what the Sahara or Antarctica is like."
But the findings help focus new questions about the planet. The remaining mystery is part of the draw. "It's why I love planetary science," DiBraccio said. "You're always going somewhere you don't really know."
More information: Gina A. DiBraccio et al. Voyager 2 constraints on plasmoid‐based transport at Uranus, Geophysical Research Letters (2019). DOI: 10.1029/2019GL083909
(Score: 3, Interesting) by janrinok on Saturday March 28 2020, @09:12AM (2 children)
The filters were never meant to be viewable by the community, were they? They are an editing aid, not a user submission feature. There is a lot of information on that page that editors see but the community don't. We put all COVID related stories in one location because we merge them into regular round-ups, and also because they tend to swamp all the other stories. There are currently 17 submissions in the standard queue, and 18 stories that are being held for the next round-up.
I don't remember them being viewable by all, but I could be mistaken about that.
If, on the other hand, you actually mean the filtered submission are not viewable then that is true - but they are all COVID related if that helps you in your search for something... You have 2 stories in that pile.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Sunday March 29 2020, @06:18AM (1 child)
Continuing the off-topic topic that the Head Editore Emeritas has deemed worthy of a reply: I am always amazed at what the editores do not know about the daily experience of the average Soylentil. Yes, until a day or so ago, we could see the filters for pending submissions. The disruption of information can only mean one thing, according to StarWars. Why was this changed? Could it be a further attempt to hide the blatant and egregious censorship of aristarchus submissions? Well, given past deep-sixing of the same, and the disappearance of the same this time, why should any average Soylentil infer anything else?
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Sunday March 29 2020, @07:33AM
Well you shouldn't be - we have a different display to the one you see. Have you ever tried editing a submission? You'll find that you cannot do so. Because you do not have access to the pages that allow a submission to be edited. As far as I am aware nothing has been changed in the software over the last 48 hours.