Friday, 15 February 2013

The Maggy Tunnel

Here's a bit of Halley that most people (even those who come here) never see. It's the magnetometer shaft. On the outside it looks like a big wooden box on the snow:



But inside it leads to a tunnel about 7m under the snow (and getting deeper) that contains a very sensitive magnetometer.



And the small lab where the computers for the magnetometers are:



The magnetometers are very sensitive and need to be thermally and physically stable which is why they are in a tunnel down in the snow. They are used to measure electrical currents flowing in the ionosphere which tells scientists about the way that solar wind connects to the earths atmosphere.


3 comments:

  1. Why doesn't the tunnel collapse?

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  2. I think I'd rather be tucked up under a duvet at 16 rook grove than in maggy. Have a safe journey home love rachel

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  3. How do the computers get connection?

    ReplyDelete