{"id":249534,"date":"2025-03-01T12:42:21","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T12:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/01\/readers-discuss-earths-hidden-electric-field-black-hole-measurements-more\/"},"modified":"2025-03-01T12:42:21","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T12:42:21","slug":"readers-discuss-earths-hidden-electric-field-black-hole-measurements-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/01\/readers-discuss-earths-hidden-electric-field-black-hole-measurements-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Readers discuss Earth&#8217;s hidden electric field, black hole measurements, more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><\/div> \r\n<br><div data-component=\"video-embed\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image  has-alignleft\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/sn-magazine\/january-2025\"><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Location, location<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Scientists launched a rocket from Svalbard, Norway, that measured Earth\u2019s ambipolar electric field for the first time. The weak field may control the shape and evolution of the upper atmosphere and may contribute to Earth\u2019s habitability, astronomy writer Lisa Grossman reported in \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/electric-field-in-earths-atmosphere\">At long last, scientists detect Earth\u2019s hidden electric field<\/a>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reader Jayant Bhalerao, a college physics instructor, found the story useful in class: \u201cWe will share it with our students, so that they can appreciate how things they are learning in the textbook have real-life applications.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<aside class=\"sn-conversion rich-text rich-text--with-sidebar\">\n<style><![CDATA[\n.email-conversion {\n  border: 1px solid #ffcccb;\n  color: white;\n  margin-top: 50px;\n  background-image: url(\"\/wp-content\/themes\/sciencenews\/client\/src\/images\/cta-module@2x.jpg\");\n  padding: 20px;\n  clear: both;\n}\n\n]]><\/style>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"rich-text embedded-conversion-content is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article-type\/deep-end-podcast?cta=top\">\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MAR_014_25_A_598X336_option2_V02.png\" id=\"dynamic-conversion\"\/><\/a><\/div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article-type\/deep-end-podcast?cta=top\">\n<\/a>\n\n<style><![CDATA[\n#dynamic-conversion {\n  border: 1px solid #ffcccb;\n  max-width: 100%;\n  height: auto;\n  clear: both;\n}\n]]><\/style>\n\n\n\n\n<\/aside>\n\n\n<p>Bhalerao also wondered why scientists chose Svalbard as the rocket\u2019s launchpad. \u201cIs there perhaps a scientific reason, or is it just infrastructure?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To measure the ambipolar electric field, the rocket needed \u201cto measure the escape of Earth\u2019s atmosphere at the poles, where some of the planet\u2019s magnetic field lines are open,\u201d Grossman says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEarth\u2019s magnetic field is kind of like a bar magnet, with field lines running from the North Pole to the South Pole in big closed loops. In these loops, charged particles are kept contained to Earth\u2019s vicinity,\u201d Grossman says. But at the poles, some field lines shoot out into space, allowing charged particles to escape. \u201cThe only launchpad that\u2019s far enough north to reach that open magnetic region is the one in Svalbard,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Measuring mergers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Scientists are becoming increasingly optimistic about the possibility of detecting primordial black holes. If they exist, these ancient black holes born just after the Big Bang may shed light on the mysteries of dark matter, freelance writer Elizabeth Quill reported in \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/primordial-black-holes-cosmic-dawn\">Black Hole Dawn<\/a>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cosmologists hope to spot signs of primordial black holes by studying black hole mergers, especially those with bizarre features, such as unexpected masses and spins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reader Michael Cross asked how scientists determine those black hole properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scientists can observe black hole mergers through gravitational waves, which provide all sorts of information about the colliding bodies, says senior physics writer Emily Conover. As black holes spiral inward and merge with each other, scientists can detect \u201cthe patterns of waves, how strong the waves are and how frequently they oscillate. They also look at how those patterns compare between multiple detectors,\u201d Conover says. Black holes with different masses or spins \u201cwill give different patterns of waves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tip of the hat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Reader Philip Korb shared a note of appreciation for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/sn-magazine\/january-2025\">January issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<aside class=\"sn-conversion rich-text rich-text--with-sidebar\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-elements-27c40654034fbeecef6418d6adfe0794\" style=\"color:gray; margin-bottom:0px; font-size:.9rem;\">Sponsor Message<\/p>\n<!-- Tag ID: sciencenews-org_leaderboard_incontent -->\n\n<\/aside>\n\n\n<p>\u201cYour new expanded and glossy magazine is dazzling. Beautiful \u2026 and with even more in-depth reporting. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/ai-health-care-medicine-tech\">AI in Medicine article<\/a> was comprehensive, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/navigation-research-exclude-environment\">human navigation article<\/a> confirmed what using GPS has demonstrated, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/us-empire-built-bird-dung\">the role of guano in creating the American empire<\/a> fascinating,\u201d Korb wrote. \u201c<em>Science News<\/em> is an invaluable contributor to American life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Korb\u2019s wife, Sandra Wolf, M.D., started reading <em>Science News <\/em>as a child, back during its newsletter years. Wolf has maintained the subscription for decades, sharing it with Korb when they married.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n<br>\r\n<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/reader-hidden-electric-field-black-hole\">Source link <\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Location, location Scientists launched a rocket from Svalbard, Norway, that measured Earth\u2019s ambipolar electric field for the first time. The weak field may control the shape and evolution of the upper atmosphere and may contribute to Earth\u2019s habitability, astronomy writer Lisa Grossman reported in \u201cAt long last, scientists detect Earth\u2019s hidden electric field.\u201d Reader Jayant [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/010125_cover_680.jpg?fit=680%2C943&ssl=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[606],"tags":[5831,4287,5043,4178,179,14337,8303,34883,4885],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249534"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249536,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249534\/revisions\/249536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}