Ohoh --- Cosmic Rays WAY UP --- Moscow Neutron Monitor

Cosmic Rays Hit Space Age High 09.28.09

Energetic iron nuclei counted by the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer on NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft reveal that cosmic ray levels have jumped 19% above the previous Space Age high.

"In 2009, cosmic ray intensities have increased 19% beyond anything we've seen in the past 50 years," says Richard Mewaldt of Caltech. "The increase is significant, and it could mean we need to re-think how much radiation shielding astronauts take with them on deep-space missions."

:rayincr:


The cause of the surge is solar minimum, a deep lull in solar activity that began around 2007 and continues today. Researchers have long known that cosmic rays go up when solar activity goes down. Right now solar activity is as weak as it has been in modern times, setting the stage for what Mewaldt calls "a perfect storm of cosmic rays."

"We're experiencing the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century," says Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center, "so it is no surprise that cosmic rays are at record levels for the Space Age."

Galactic cosmic rays come from outside the solar system. They are subatomic particles--mainly protons but also some heavy nuclei--accelerated to almost light speed by distant supernova explosions. Cosmic rays cause "air showers" of secondary particles when they hit Earth's atmosphere; they pose a health hazard to astronauts; and a single cosmic ray can disable a satellite if it hits an unlucky integrated circuit.

The sun's magnetic field is our first line of defense against these highly-charged, energetic particles. The entire solar system from Mercury to Pluto and beyond is surrounded by a bubble of solar magnetism called "the heliosphere." It springs from the sun's inner magnetic dynamo and is inflated to gargantuan proportions by the solar wind. When a cosmic ray tries to enter the solar system, it must fight through the heliosphere's outer layers; and if it makes it inside, there is a thicket of magnetic fields waiting to scatter and deflect the intruder.

"At times of low solar activity, this natural shielding is weakened, and more cosmic rays are able to reach the inner solar system," explains Pesnell.

Mewaldt lists three aspects of the current solar minimum that are combining to create the perfect storm:

The sun's magnetic field is weak. "There has been a sharp decline in the sun's interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) down to only 4 nanoTesla (nT) from typical values of 6 to 8 nT," he says. "This record-low IMF undoubtedly contributes to the record-high cosmic ray fluxes."

The solar wind is flagging. "Measurements by the Ulysses spacecraft show that solar wind pressure is at a 50-year low," he continues, "so the magnetic bubble that protects the solar system is not being inflated as much as usual." A smaller bubble gives cosmic rays a shorter-shot into the solar system. Once a cosmic ray enters the solar system, it must "swim upstream" against the solar wind. Solar wind speeds have dropped to very low levels in 2008 and 2009, making it easier than usual for a cosmic ray to proceed.

The current sheet is flattening. Imagine the sun wearing a ballerina's skirt as wide as the entire solar system with an electrical current flowing along the wavy folds. That is the "heliospheric current sheet," a vast transition zone where the polarity of the sun's magnetic field changes from plus (north) to minus (south). The current sheet is important because cosmic rays tend to be guided by its folds. Lately, the current sheet has been flattening itself out, allowing cosmic rays more direct access to the inner solar system.

"If the flattening continues as it has in previous solar minima, we could see cosmic ray fluxes jump all the way to 30% above previous Space Age highs," predicts Mewaldt.

"The space era has so far experienced a time of relatively low cosmic ray activity," says Mewaldt. "We may now be returning to levels typical of past centuries."

NASA spacecraft will continue to monitor the situation as solar minimum unfolds. Stay tuned for updates.
[link to www.nasa.gov]

Hi Sickscent. Thanks for the input.

"NASA spacecraft will continue to monitor the situation as solar minimum unfolds."

Well, I guess we can count on our Russian friends, but nothing heard from NASA. I've been checking all over to see if there is any recent news on this, but nothing is showing up.

The last I heard from NASA is that article I just posted here. Its probably available somewhere, they just may not have done a news release on it.

Like they would actually help us or do anything. How are you doing SS?

Actually, I am doing really good...still in the middle of hard times, but my outlook is very positive. Feels good. Been a long road. Thank you for asking!

if you check history records of moscow neutron monitor, you will see that they never measured so high level

:5stars: and a cosmic ray :pin: suggested.

Check this out: There has been an influx of cosmic rays due to a number of things, the major reason being the shrinking of the heliosphere and the extended, never-before-seen inactive solar minimum the sun recently experienced.

So these cosmic rays come in, hit the earth's magnetic field, and get trapped between the twin Van Allen Belts and just bounce back and forth between the two, accumulating.

In 1992, between the months of August and November, they found that the amount of cosmic rays in this new 'raditation belt', DOUBLED.

Think of where it's at now!

Further, and you won't believe this, guess where the largest accumulation of these anomalous cosmic rays are trapped...

RIGHT ABOVE THE SOUTH ATLANTIC ANOMALY! It looks as if these accumulating, trapped, anomalous cosmic rays are generating the SAA's weaking magnetic field!

:saa:

[link to www.nasa.gov]

Paula Cleggett-Haleim
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
May 25, 1993
(Phone: 202/358-0883)
Embargoed until Noon

Michael Finneran
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone: 301/286-5565)

Jay Aller
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/356-3631)


RELEASE: 93-94

SCIENTISTS LOCATE NEW RADIATION BELT AROUND EARTH

The location of a radiation belt of cosmic rays -- particles from beyond the solar system -- has been pinpointed several hundred miles above the Earth, according to scientists from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,Greenbelt, Md.

A NASA satellite called Solar, Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX), was orbiting 375 miles (600 kilometers) above the Earth when it measured the belt.

The belt is most intense above a 5,000-mile (8,050- kilometer) strip of Atlantic Ocean between the southern tips of South America and Africa, Caltech and NASA scientists said at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Baltimore, Md., on Tuesday,
May 25.

The belt is composed of particles known as anomalous cosmic rays, which are the result of the sun's interaction with tenuous gas that exists between the stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

"We were pretty sure the belt was there, and now we've pinned it down along with its location, which we didn't know before," said Goddard's Dr. Tycho von Rosenvinge, a member of the SAMPEX team.

-more-


-2-


The first clear evidence for such a radiation belt was
discovered by a team of Russian and U.S. scientists in 1991 using information from a series of Russian COSMOS spacecraft.

They were unable, however, to determine directly the location of the belt, which is composed of different high-energy particles than another region of radiation, the Van Allen radiation belts discovered by James A. Van Allen in 1958 using data from NASA's Explorer 1 satellite.

The belt in which the anomalous cosmic rays collect is embedded within the inner of the two Van Allen belts. The geometry of these belts is determined by the Earth's magnetic field lines, which connect the North and South magnetic poles.

"The cosmic rays become trapped in this field, where they bounce back and forth between the poles of Earth's magnetic field," said Caltech's Dr. Richard Mewaldt, a member of the SAMPEX team along with Caltech colleagues Drs. Jay Cummings, Alan Cummings, Richard Selesnick and Edward Stone.

The rays are the most intense in the 5,000-mile (8,050-
kilometer) strip between South America and Africa, Mewaldt said, because the Earth's magnetic field is not centered perfectly, and this is where it allows the trapped particles to get closest to the planet's surface.

SAMPEX scientists said trapped cosmic rays can be stored in the belt for weeks or more, so the intensity can build up over time as more arrive. More of the cosmic rays collect in the belt during periods of minimum solar activity, which follows an 11- year cycle.

The trapped radiation has doubled between August and November 1992, according to SAMPEX measurements, and now is about 100 times the intensity of the anomalous cosmic rays in interplanetary space.

"This long-term storage will give the SAMPEX team a unique opportunity to study the properties of interstellar matter right in Earth's back yard," Mewaldt said.

SAMPEX was launched in July 1992 on a Scout rocket from
Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The satellite is managed by Goddard for the Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

-end-

It's the new energies from 11.11.11. Seriously! :)

You my freind have to wake up up up

What's this?

[link to helios.izmiran.rssi.ru]

Cosmic rays way up over the last several days. Anyone know what to make of this? Trouble?

What's this?

[link to helios.izmiran.rssi.ru]

Cosmic rays way up over the last several days. Anyone know what to make of this? Trouble?

The past two years history is a steady pattern and then the past 24 hours a huge spike.


[link to helios.izmiran.rssi.ru]

Poleshift is being induced. The World economy is irrecoverable.