Science
NASA is investigating a mysterious anomaly that passes over our continent.
On our country there is a anomaly that does not affect life on Earth, however the NASA is monitoring this mystery that is in the Earth’s magnetic field and that extends through South America and southwestern Africa.
What is it about?
The mysterious anomaly which corresponds to a giant region of lower magnetic intensity has been called South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) and has been compared by experts as a kind of “dent” in the Earth’s magnetic field or a type of “bump in space“, usually does not affect life on Earthbut they do not run with the same luck spaceships.
How does it affect ships?
Once the spaceships in orbit as the International Space Station pass directly through the anomaly as they revolve around the Earth and may suffer short circuit and/or malfunction Due to the reduced strength of the magnetic field within this anomaly and if they are hit by high-energy protons emanating from the Sun.
They usually only produce low level failuresbut it is not something to minimize, since they could suffer significant data loss or permanent damage to their components.
“Consequence of weakening”
NASA geophysicist and mathematician Goddard, Wijia Kuangexplained that “The observed SAA can also be interpreted as a consequence of the weakening of the domain of the dipole field in the region”.
“More specifically, a localized field with reversed polarity grows strongly in the SAA regionwhich makes that the field strength is very weakweaker than that of the surrounding regions”, he added.
Is it the first time that it happens?
According to a study published in July 2020, it suggests that said anomaly is not an event that has not happenedsince it would be a recurring event that could have affected the planet more than 11 million years.
The WEATHER It would be neither a precursor nor a trigger for the reversal of the magnetic field, but rather something that happens during hundreds of thousands of years.