NASA has approved the Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) mission to proceed to Phase B, which marks the transition from concept study to preliminary flight design. The satellites, ...
Space Exploration
Jun 22, 2020
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5
Mercury, the planet nearest the sun, shares with Earth the distinction of being one of the two mountainous planets in the solar system with a global magnetic field that shields it from cosmic rays and the solar wind. Now ...
Astronomy
Apr 9, 2020
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143
Scientists seeking to bring the fusion that powers the sun and stars to Earth must deal with sawtooth instabilities—up-and-down swings in the central pressure and temperature of the plasma that fuels fusion reactions, similar ...
Plasma Physics
Mar 31, 2020
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878
Solar flares, similar to many other astrophysical energetic processes, are related to magnetic reconnection. During these events magnetic energy is transferred from other forms of energy, mostly heat and energetic particles. ...
Plasma Physics
Mar 17, 2020
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12
For the first time, torsional Alfvén waves have been directly observed in the solar corona by a team of researchers from the University of Oslo and the University of Warwick. The discovery sheds light on the origin of magnetic ...
Space Exploration
Mar 2, 2020
12
181
Beyond Earth's atmosphere are swirling clouds of energized particles—ions and electrons—that emanate from the sun. This "solar wind" buffets the magnetosphere, the magnetic force field that surrounds Earth.
General Physics
Jan 14, 2020
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777
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has observed a magnetic explosion the likes of which have never been seen before. In the scorching upper reaches of the Sun's atmosphere, a prominence—a large loop of material launched ...
Astronomy
Dec 17, 2019
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1052
For decades, scientists have speculated about the origin of the electromagnetic radiation emitted from celestial regions that host black holes and neutron stars—the most mysterious objects in the universe.
Astronomy
Nov 27, 2019
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1396
An international team of researchers has found evidence that magnetic reconnection is the source of spicule generation on the surface of the sun. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their ...
Italian astronomers have conducted multi-band observations of the high-redshift blazar S5 0836+710 during its period of high activity. The monitoring campaign resulted in the detection of two major gamma-ray flares from this ...
