NASA Research: A NASA satellite has seen mysterious structures in the Earth’s ionosphere, which look like the English letters ‘C’ and ‘X’. NASA scientists have not yet found any concrete information about these structures, so scientists have started finding out about it. Scientists say that the ionosphere is an electrified region of the Earth’s atmosphere. Its density increases during the day, because its molecules become electrically charged. Sunlight separates electrons from atoms and molecules, creating plasma that enables radio signals to travel long distances. NASA’s GOLD mission is monitoring this ionosphere.
NASA’s Global-scale Observation of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission is a geostationary satellite. NASA launched it in October 2018, since then it has been measuring the density and temperature in the Earth’s ionosphere. From its geostationary orbit over the Western Hemisphere, GOLD was recently studying two dense peaks of particles in the ionosphere. During this time it was discovered that low-density bubbles appear within these peaks, which can interfere with the operation of radio and GPS. Scientists say that this is not happening only due to fluctuations in sunlight, which affects the ionosphere. Scientists believe that solar storms and huge volcanic eruptions have a major impact on the atmospheric layer. In such a situation, the peaks of the ionosphere can join together and take the shape of ‘X’.
What do scientists say about ‘X’ and ‘C’ shapes?
NASA scientists say that solar radiation or volcanoes are not responsible for the ‘X’ and ‘C’ shapes recently discovered under the GOLD mission. Live Science has published a long article about this structure. Live Science has quoted a statement by Fazlul Laskar, a research scientist at the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). He said that ‘X structures were formed only during geomagnetically weak conditions.’ In fact, Fazlul Laskar is the lead author of a paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics published in April, in which these unexpected observations have been described in detail.
NASA is gathering more information on the ionosphere
He said that the formation of such a shape amidst calm conditions and the presence of bubbles in the ionosphere is an unexpected event. In fact, NASA has been doing research for a long time to know more about the ionosphere. Recently, a project named Atmospheric Disturbances (APEP) of NASA investigated how sunlight and a drop in temperature affect the upper atmosphere of the Earth. NASA has also tried to know more about the recent solar and lunar eclipses.
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