SYDNEY, June 1 (UPI) -- The Earth's magnetosphere hosts a variety of odd geometric shapes, including arcing tubes of plasma.
Scientists had long theorized that tubular plasma structures populated the magnetosphere, but thanks to the work of a group of astronomers in Australia, they now say this with certainty.
The tubes were discovered by probing the magnetosphere -- the region that contains the Earth's magnetic field -- with a radio telescope-turned 3-D camera.
"The discovery of the structures is important because they cause unwanted signal distortions that could, as one example, affect our civilian and military satellite-based navigation systems. So we need to understand them," Cleo Loi, an astrophysicist at the University of Sydney, said in a press release.
The magnetosphere structures occupy the region where the atmosphere ends and space begins. The area is rich in plasma, the product of Earth's atmosphere being ionized by solar energy. The bottom (or innermost) layer of the magnetosphere is called the ionosphere. Above the ionosphere is the plasmasphere.
The tubular structures begin in the upper ionosphere and arc through the plasmasphere, where the neutral atmosphere ends and the plasma of outer space begins.
Researchers were able to recognize the structures by turning a radio telescope in Australia into a 3-D movie-maker. They did this by disconnecting the vast array of radio-sensing panels, turning one massive entity into two cooperating but distinct entities.
"This is like turning the telescope into a pair of eyes, and by that we were able to probe the 3D nature of these structures and watch them move around," Loi explained.
Loi and her colleagues hope the technique can help them further explore the shapes and behavior of magnetosphere plasma structures in the future.
Their latest research efforts were detailed in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
