<p>NASA image release September 3, 2010
</p><p>(Caption: Artist conception of the four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft investigating magnetic reconnection within Earth's magnetic field (magnetosphere). Credit: Southwest Research Institute)
</p><p>The universe is still an arcane place that scientists know very little about, but a new NASA Solar Terrestrial Probe mission is going to shed light on one especially mysterious event called magnetic reconnection. It occurs when magnetic lines of force cross, cancel, and reconnect releasing magnetic energy in the form of heat and charged-particle kinetic energy.
</p><p>On the sun, magnetic reconnection causes solar flares more powerful than several atomic bombs combined. In Earth's atmosphere, magnetic reconnection dispenses magnetic storms and auroras, and in laboratories on Earth it can cause big problems in fusion reactors.
</p><p>Although the study of magnetic reconnection dates back to the 1950s and despite numerous scientific papers addressing this perplexing issue, scientists still cannot agree on one accepted model.
</p><p>To read more go to: &lt;a href="<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/sunearthsystem/main/mms-cdr.html">http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/sunearthsystem/main/mms-cdr.html</a>" rel="nofollow"&gt;www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/sunearthsystem/main/mms-c...&lt;/a&gt;
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<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4954529973/">NASA's Magnetospheric Mission Passes Major Milestone</a>