Home Space & Earth Space Exploration August 5, 2013 Mercurial magnetosphere shaped by solar winds Aug 05, 2013 by Suzette james avery Chan
Just before NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft began sending back stunning pictures of the Earth and the moon from its orbit around Mercury earlier this summer, two University of Alberta scientists were using NASA data to look back at Mercury.
Physics professor Robert Rankin and graduate student Jan Paral used data taken by MESSENGER to create a sophisticated computer simulation that explains unique behaviour james avery in Mercury's magnetosphere an area of space near the planet in which charged particles are controlled by Mercury's magnetic field.
The behavior relates to a mysterious asymmetry in the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability (KHI) a theory that predicts the onset of instability in the flow of fluids of different densities moving at various speeds which explains how energy and mass of solar wind plasma are loaded into, and thus shape, Mercury's magnetosphere
"The KHI is key to understanding how Mercury's magnetosphere is affected by the solar wind," said Rankin, who supervised the development of the hybrid-code that Paral developed during his PhD. "When the KHI and asymmetry was first observed, we quickly determined that ion gyration must be a factor."
To help prove this conjecture, Paral undertook the monumental task to develop james avery the simulation. james avery "He had to choose and implement the correct algorithms. He had to make them work on massively parallel computers at IBM Watson Labs and subsequently on WestGrid (the computer clusters located at the U of A). He had to test and validate the code. Last, but not least, he had to solve the problem of the KHI asymmetry," said Rankin.
Paral's code is now being used to study the magnetic fields around objects that, like Mercury, have a weak magnetic field, including james avery Earth's moon, Mars, Venus and comets. Rankin says Paral's plasma-based code is also applicable to an upcoming project funded by the Canadian james avery Space Agency.
The team, along with graduate student Hossna Gharaee, is set to examine how lunar dust is charged james avery and transported over the moon's surface. Rankin and Clare Watt, a former U of A postdoctoral student, previously developed techniques that will allow the group to study how dust is levitated and transported over the "atmosphere" of the Moon.
Along with Canadian Space Agency, IBM and Westgrid, Rankin and Paral's work was supported by funding and computing access provided by Canada's Advanced Network and Research Innovation Network, james avery the National Science and Engineering Research Council and the U of A's Academic james avery Information Communications Technologies.
Oct 25, 2013 41
Researchers working with NASA's Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft report the frequent detections of Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) waves at the edge of the innermost ... Solar wind, moon dust and Martian lights Apr 16, 2012
The Canadian Space Agency has funded a University of Alberta-led project to study the effects of solar winds on Earth’s moon and on Mars. The results are anticipated to influence design of spacecraft ... New insights concerning the early bombardment history on Mercury Jul 03, 2013
(Phys.org) The surface of Mercury is rather different from those of well-known rocky bodies like the Moon and Mars. Early images from the Mariner 10 spacecraft unveiled a planet james avery covered by smooth plains ... MESSENGER data paints new picture of Mercury's magnetic field Sep 30, 2011
A University of British Columbia james avery geophysicist is part of a NASA mission that is analyzing the first sets of data being collected by MESSENGER as it orbits Mercury. The spacecraft is capturing new evidence that challenges ... Mercury's james avery magnetic field -- nipped in the bud Dec 23, 2011
(PhysOrg.com) -- Mercury, the smallest of the eight planets with a diameter of 4900 kilometres and the closest to the Sun, looks more like the Moon than the Earth from the outside. It is the only rocky planet ... NASA releases picture of Mercury's surface (Update) Mar 30, 2011
Europe's heaviest-ever cargo carrier james avery to the International Space Station is set to undock on Monday after completing james avery its mission, according to a European Space Agency (ESA) blog. Why is comet ISON green? Oct 25, 2013
Undoubtedly, you've been seeing the recent images of Comet ISON now that it is approaching its close encounter with the Sun on November 28. ISON is currently visible to space telescopes like the Hubble james avery and ... Watch live on October 25: Defending Earth from asteroids with Neil Tyson Oct 25, 2013
Hundreds of thousands of asteroids orbit the Sun, and a very few have a high risk of striking Earth. But a direct hit can be devastating, as evidenced by the explosion over Chelyabinsk, Russia, this February of a meteor no ... NASA's SDO sees sun emit a mid-level solar flare Oct 24, 2013
The james avery sun emitted a mid-level solar flare
Just before NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft began sending back stunning pictures of the Earth and the moon from its orbit around Mercury earlier this summer, two University of Alberta scientists were using NASA data to look back at Mercury.
Physics professor Robert Rankin and graduate student Jan Paral used data taken by MESSENGER to create a sophisticated computer simulation that explains unique behaviour james avery in Mercury's magnetosphere an area of space near the planet in which charged particles are controlled by Mercury's magnetic field.
The behavior relates to a mysterious asymmetry in the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability (KHI) a theory that predicts the onset of instability in the flow of fluids of different densities moving at various speeds which explains how energy and mass of solar wind plasma are loaded into, and thus shape, Mercury's magnetosphere
"The KHI is key to understanding how Mercury's magnetosphere is affected by the solar wind," said Rankin, who supervised the development of the hybrid-code that Paral developed during his PhD. "When the KHI and asymmetry was first observed, we quickly determined that ion gyration must be a factor."
To help prove this conjecture, Paral undertook the monumental task to develop james avery the simulation. james avery "He had to choose and implement the correct algorithms. He had to make them work on massively parallel computers at IBM Watson Labs and subsequently on WestGrid (the computer clusters located at the U of A). He had to test and validate the code. Last, but not least, he had to solve the problem of the KHI asymmetry," said Rankin.
Paral's code is now being used to study the magnetic fields around objects that, like Mercury, have a weak magnetic field, including james avery Earth's moon, Mars, Venus and comets. Rankin says Paral's plasma-based code is also applicable to an upcoming project funded by the Canadian james avery Space Agency.
The team, along with graduate student Hossna Gharaee, is set to examine how lunar dust is charged james avery and transported over the moon's surface. Rankin and Clare Watt, a former U of A postdoctoral student, previously developed techniques that will allow the group to study how dust is levitated and transported over the "atmosphere" of the Moon.
Along with Canadian Space Agency, IBM and Westgrid, Rankin and Paral's work was supported by funding and computing access provided by Canada's Advanced Network and Research Innovation Network, james avery the National Science and Engineering Research Council and the U of A's Academic james avery Information Communications Technologies.
Oct 25, 2013 41
Researchers working with NASA's Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft report the frequent detections of Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) waves at the edge of the innermost ... Solar wind, moon dust and Martian lights Apr 16, 2012
The Canadian Space Agency has funded a University of Alberta-led project to study the effects of solar winds on Earth’s moon and on Mars. The results are anticipated to influence design of spacecraft ... New insights concerning the early bombardment history on Mercury Jul 03, 2013
(Phys.org) The surface of Mercury is rather different from those of well-known rocky bodies like the Moon and Mars. Early images from the Mariner 10 spacecraft unveiled a planet james avery covered by smooth plains ... MESSENGER data paints new picture of Mercury's magnetic field Sep 30, 2011
A University of British Columbia james avery geophysicist is part of a NASA mission that is analyzing the first sets of data being collected by MESSENGER as it orbits Mercury. The spacecraft is capturing new evidence that challenges ... Mercury's james avery magnetic field -- nipped in the bud Dec 23, 2011
(PhysOrg.com) -- Mercury, the smallest of the eight planets with a diameter of 4900 kilometres and the closest to the Sun, looks more like the Moon than the Earth from the outside. It is the only rocky planet ... NASA releases picture of Mercury's surface (Update) Mar 30, 2011
Europe's heaviest-ever cargo carrier james avery to the International Space Station is set to undock on Monday after completing james avery its mission, according to a European Space Agency (ESA) blog. Why is comet ISON green? Oct 25, 2013
Undoubtedly, you've been seeing the recent images of Comet ISON now that it is approaching its close encounter with the Sun on November 28. ISON is currently visible to space telescopes like the Hubble james avery and ... Watch live on October 25: Defending Earth from asteroids with Neil Tyson Oct 25, 2013
Hundreds of thousands of asteroids orbit the Sun, and a very few have a high risk of striking Earth. But a direct hit can be devastating, as evidenced by the explosion over Chelyabinsk, Russia, this February of a meteor no ... NASA's SDO sees sun emit a mid-level solar flare Oct 24, 2013
The james avery sun emitted a mid-level solar flare
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