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站前 英文 | 地球在唱歌　NASA聽到高能粒子撞擊磁場的“地球之歌”

NASA captures the Earth’s ’song’

You’d hear the Earth’s ’song’ if you had a radio receiver implanted in your brain. Thankfully, NASA has made it possible to sample our planet’s chorus without having to take such a drastic step, potentially safeguarding costly spacecraft from being damaged by “killer” radiation.

NASA on Friday announced that its twin Radiation Belt Storm Probes had beamed back sounds of the electromagnetic plasma waves that reside within the Van Allen belt – layers of charged atomic particles that surround the Earth. Those waves produce what NASA is calling the “Earthsong,” or “chorus.”

A team at the University of Iowa built the Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science (EMFISIS) receiver used to record the signals, NASA says.

The probes were launched late last month to study the belt, which is not fully understood in spite of decades of space travel. The belt generates oscillating radio waves that can be picked up by EMFISIS equipment. Ham radio operators can hear the chorus, but not as crisply as the CD quality sound that NASA is now providing.

This research is not just being done for our listening pleasure – more than a few spacecraft have failed due to a phenomenon called “killer electrons.” Killer electron particles are found in the belt, and are thought to become dangerous to people and equipment after encountering a chorus wave.

The probes will map out how broad the region is over the next two years, and further NASA’s understanding of why unpredictable “killers” can occur. Click on this video to learn more:

Astronaut Charles Walker described how he felt “strangely unfulfilled” after viewing the Earth from space. “Here was a tremendous visual spectacle, but viewed in silence. There was no grand musical accompaniment; no triumphant, inspired sonata or symphony,” he said. But in a way, the Earth is really making quite a racket.

　　據國外媒體報導，隸屬於美國國家航空航天局的輻射帶風暴探測器（RBSP）於今年8月30日成功發射，該探測器在9月5日捕獲到了地球磁層發出的無線電波“聲音” ，酷似啁啾聲或者吹口哨聲，科學家們認為這是地球外層磁場區域受到了太陽風粒子的撞擊。該聲音被稱為“地球之聲”，就如同地球在進行大合唱，並且可以被人類的耳朵聽見。

來自美國愛荷華大學的科學家克雷格·克勒特則因（Craig Kletzing）認為我們已經知道地球磁場發生如此神奇的現像已經數十年了，如果用無線電接收機將其錄製下來，那麼聽起來就像是鳥鳴般的聲音。位於地球磁場上部的高能粒子行為可釋放出“地球之聲”，而美國宇航局的輻射帶風暴探測器由兩個探測器組成，處於環繞地球的橢圓軌道上，近地點高度為375英里，而遠地點為2萬英里以上。科學家通過這兩艘探測器旨在研究地球外圍神秘的範艾倫輻射帶，探索高能輻射層對近地空間的影響。

資料參考：
http://tech.huanqiu.com/discovery/2012-09/3136646.html
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/nasa-captures-the-earths-song/1476
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2205544/Earths-song-Nasa-picks-gleeful-chirrups-planet--heard-human-ear-helmet-space.html

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