Re: Planet X: (Science News) A Comet's Odd Orbit Hints at Hidden Planet

In Article <Pine.BSI.4.05L.10105052131380.6502-100000@shell.golden.net> John Latala wrote:
> Planet-X then there's no way it's magnetic field
> is changing things on Earth. Magnetic fields fall
> off a lot faster than gravitational fields. You can
> see that right here in our solar system since the
> Sun's magnetic field doesn't reach us but it's
> gravitational field does.

Oh?  What causes our magnetic field to point in the direction it does in
the first place?  What giant magnet in the sky are we and the other
planets aligned with?  And if the Earth's core is not affected by the
relative distance of Planet X, then why is it our magnetic field was
STRONGEST approximately 2,000 years ago (1/2 of 3,657 years or so) and
is becoming diffuse, rapidly?

Date: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 15:06:01 GMT
From: Larry Newitt <newitt@geolab.nrcan.gc.ca>
Subject: re: decay of the earth's magnetic field

    I am not familiar with the article by Barnes in the SIS
    Review, but the decrease in the earth's magnetic field to
    which he referred is well-known. That is not to say that
    the strength of the magnetic field is decreasing by the
    same amount everywhere. Measurements of the
    magnetic field strength are routinely made at different
    places on the earth show, and show different rates of
    decrease; in fact, some places show an increase.
    However, mathematical analyses of the observations,
    which are routinely done every few years, show an
    overall decrease in what is called the "dipole moment"
    of the magnetic field. (See for example, C.E. Barton,
    Journal of Geomagnetism and Geoelectricity, v 49,
    123-148, 1997.) This decrease is approximately
    linear, not exponential. If it were to continue, the dipole
    moment would become zero in about 1250 years, but
    Barton points out that the dipole appears to be recovering
    from an historic high that occured about 2000 years ago,
    so there is no reason to believe that the decrease will
    continue indefinitely.