title: julian assange to speak prerecorded rt interview
text: crack in earths magnetic shield detected  
  dna india 
  the worlds largest and most sensitive cosmic ray monitor located in india has recorded a burst of galactic cosmic rays that indicates a crack in the earths magnetic shield according to scientists 
  the burst occurred when a giant cloud of plasma ejected from the solar corona struck earth at a very high speed causing massive compression of the earths magnetosphere and triggering a severe geomagnetic storm 
  the grapes muon telescope located at tata institute of fundamental researchs cosmic ray laboratory in ooty in tamil nadu recorded a burst of galactic cosmic rays of about  gev last year lasting for two hours 
  the burst occurred when a giant cloud of plasma ejected from the solar corona and moving with a speed of about  million kilometres per hour struck our planet causing a severe compression of earths magnetosphere from  to  times the radius of earth 
  it triggered a severe geomagnetic storm that generated aurora borealis and radio signal blackouts in many high latitude countries according to the study published in the journal physical review letters this week 
  earths magnetosphere extends over a radius of a million kilometres which acts as the first line of defence shielding us from the continuous flow of solar and galactic cosmic rays thus protecting life on our planet from these high intensity energetic radiations 
  numerical simulations performed by the grapes researchers including pravata k mohanty indicate that the earths magnetic shield temporarily cracked due to the occurrence of magnetic reconnection allowing the lower energy galactic cosmic ray particles to enter our atmosphere 
  earths magnetic field bent these particles about  degree from the dayside to the nightside of the earth where it was detected as a burst by the grapes muon telescope around midnight on  june  
  the data was analysed and interpreted through extensive simulation over several weeks by using the core computing farm that was built inhouse by the grapes team of physicists and engineers at the cosmic ray laboratory in ooty 
  solar storms can cause major disruption to human civilisation by crippling large electrical power grids global positioning systems gps satellite operations and communications