Monday Mystery In Space...!

Today's mystery is a little far out of the range of our normal mysteries. Of course, I'm not even sure there is such a thing as a "Normal Mystery!"

I'll be the first to say that I have never heard of this one, though. I don't remember us talking much about the mysteries in space, and I'll bet there are many of them!

South Atlantic Anomaly

Did you ever wonder if there was a Bermuda Triangle in Space? No? Well you’re probably wondering it now, and you’re in luck! Because there totally is, and it’s called the South Atlantic Anomaly. The SAA is the area where the band of radiation known as Earth’s inner Van Allen belt comes closest to the Earth’s surface.

It’s an area centered just a bit off the coast of Brazil, and it’s responsible for numerous problems with satellites and spacecraft, from messing up their programs to actually shutting down their function. The Hubble Telescope is actually turned off from taking observations when passing through the Anomaly, and the International Space Station avoids scheduling spacewalks when passing through it (which happens up to 5 times a day). It’s not just technical problems, either—some astronauts report seeing “shooting stars” in their visual field as they pass through.

The cause of all these problems isn’t fully understood. The main suspect is the high levels of radiation that accumulate at the anomaly, but scientists aren’t sure exactly how or why the effects occur. So let’s just pin this one on aliens.

Nothing like finding out that strange things happen out in space as well! Not exactly the most comforting thing in the world, or should I say " out of this world?"

Coffee out on the patio this morning. I'll bring the baby kittens out for some air!