A sunspot pointing toward Earth has the potential to cause solar flares, but experts told USA TODAY it's far from unusual and eased concerns over how flares would affect the Blue Planet.
Astronomy
Jun 22, 2022
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Powerful flares, breathtaking views across the solar poles, and a curious solar "hedgehog" are among the haul of spectacular images, movies and data returned by Solar Orbiter from its first close approach to the sun. Although ...
Astronomy
May 19, 2022
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221
The sun has gone quiet. Almost too quiet. A few weeks ago it was teeming with sunspots, as you would expect since we are supposed to be in the middle of solar maximum-the time in the sun's 11-year cycle when it is the most ...
Space Exploration
Jul 21, 2014
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Since its discovery was announced in August of 2016, Proxima b has been an endless source of wonder and the target of many scientific studies. In addition to being the closest extra-solar planet to our Solar System, this ...
Astronomy
Apr 12, 2018
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88
Could the Sun be your lucky—or unlucky—star? In an unusual study published Wednesday, Norwegian scientists said people born during periods of solar calm may live longer, as much as five years on average, than those who ...
Other
Jan 7, 2015
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Solar Cycle 25 has begun. During a media event on Tuesday, experts from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) discussed their analysis and predictions about the new solar cycle—and how the ...
Space Exploration
Sep 15, 2020
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The sun's violent activity and many unexpected and unpredictable events taking place on its surface suggest that we should prepare for the worst. Huge explosions of magnetic field and plasma from the sun's corona, known as ...
Space Exploration
Mar 14, 2016
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43
In the past one and a half years, the sun has been rather dull: hardly a sunspot covered its surface, hardly a solar flare hurled radiation and particles into space. As observational data now show, for the last nine months ...
Astronomy
Sep 16, 2020
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611
In a recent study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, an international team of researchers led by the University of Cologne in Germany examined how solar flares erupted by the TRAPPIST-1 star could affect the ...
Planetary Sciences
Dec 27, 2022
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Australia has unveiled a new radio telescope in the remote outback that will give the world a vastly improved view of the sun and much faster warnings on massive solar storms.
Space Exploration
Dec 1, 2012
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