science @lemmy.world yamaonan @lemmy.world 2 mo. ago

NASA discovers Earth's electrical field at last after 60-year search

www.space.com 'It basically lifts the skies up.' NASA discovers Earth's electrical field at last after 60-year search

"It's been here since the beginning alongside gravity and magnetism."

A long-sought invisible force wrapped around Earth has been detected more than half a century after it was first hypothesized.

The field, dubbed the "polar wind," explains how Earth's atmosphere escapes easily and rapidly above the north and south poles, and may have played a role in shaping our planet's thin upper atmosphere.

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Edit: ELECTRICAL field sorry

A long-sought invisible force wrapped around Earth has been detected more than half a century after it was first hypothesized.

99% chance I'm being an idiot here, but, compass?
- Magnetic field ≠ electric field
  
  Fucking magnets, how do they work?
- I think it means the electric field created within Earth's atmosphere that is responsible for lightning as opposed to the (electro)magnetic field which forms the magnetosphere around Earth and makes compasses work.
NASA link: https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasa-discovers-long-sought-global-electric-field-on-earth/

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