UCLA scientists have discovered a new source of super-fast, energetic electrons raining down on Earth, a phenomenon that contributes to the colorful aurora borealis but also poses hazards to satellites, spacecraft and astronauts.
Planetary Sciences
Mar 30, 2022
8
1482
Planetary scientist Erdal Yiğit, with George Mason University, has published a Perspective piece in the journal Science suggesting that upper atmospheric interactions with solar wind cannot fully explain the loss of surface ...
Could solar storms knock out the global internet? Yes, but we don't know when or how it could happen. Mathematician Dr. Geoffrey Vasil has proposed a new understanding of the Sun's convection zone to help.
Astronomy
Aug 5, 2021
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1055
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
Just weeks before the historic encounter of comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) with Mars in October 2014, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft entered orbit around the Red Planet. To protect sensitive ...
Space Exploration
Mar 10, 2016
441
1849
NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission has identified the process that appears to have played a key role in the transition of the Martian climate from an early, warm and wet environment that might have ...
Space Exploration
Nov 5, 2015
1
1720
(Phys.org) —In a 3-meter diameter hollow aluminum sphere, Cary Forest, a UW-Madison physics professor, is stirring and heating plasmas to 500,000 degrees Fahrenheit to experimentally mimic the magnetic field-inducing cosmic ...
Space Exploration
Oct 17, 2013
0
0
(Phys.org) —Solar storms—powerful eruptions of solar material and magnetic fields into interplanetary space—can cause what is known as "space weather" near Earth, resulting in hazards that range from interference with ...
Space Exploration
Sep 26, 2013
2
85
January saw the biggest solar storm since 2005, generating some of the most dazzling northern lights in recent memory.
Plasma Physics
Feb 15, 2012
13
0
George Mason University scientists discovered recently that a phenomenon called a giant magnetic rope is the cause of solar storms. Confirming the existence of this formation is a key first step in helping to mitigate the ...
Space Exploration
Jun 15, 2011
23
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