Our constantly-changing sun sometimes erupts with bursts of light, solar material, or ultra-fast energized particles—collectively, these events contribute to space weather. In a study published Jan. 30, 2017, in Space Weather, ...
Space Exploration
Mar 2, 2017
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32
The dynamic space environment that surrounds Earth - the space our astronauts and spacecraft travel through - can be rattled by huge solar eruptions from the sun, which spew giant clouds of magnetic energy and plasma, a hot ...
Space Exploration
Jan 26, 2017
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296
Our planet is nestled in the center of two immense, concentric doughnuts of powerful radiation: the Van Allen radiation belts, which harbor swarms of charged particles that are trapped by Earth's magnetic field. On March ...
Space Exploration
Aug 15, 2016
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860
Earth's magnetosphere, the region of space dominated by Earth's magnetic field, protects our planet from the harsh battering of the solar wind. Like a protective shield, the magnetosphere absorbs and deflects plasma from ...
Space Exploration
Jun 20, 2016
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2236
Mysterious high-rise clouds seen appearing suddenly in the martian atmosphere on a handful of occasions may be linked to space weather, say Mars Express scientists.
Space Exploration
May 24, 2016
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44
Why is the sun's outermost layer 1,000 times hotter than the visible surface of the sun? What are the physical mechanisms that allow oxygen atoms in Earth's atmosphere to overcome gravity and race into Earth's protective ...
Space Exploration
May 5, 2016
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13
Solar flares are intense bursts of light from the sun. They are created when complicated magnetic fields suddenly and explosively rearrange themselves, converting magnetic energy into light through a process called magnetic ...
Space Exploration
Apr 19, 2016
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521
Space weather scientist Liz MacDonald has seen auroras more than five times in her life, but it was the aurora she didn't see that affected her the most.
Space Exploration
Mar 7, 2016
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57
A miniature research spacecraft, the CubeSat to study Solar Particles (CuSP), is one of the lucky projects that will hitch a ride on the historic first flight of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) in 2018. The microsatellite ...
Space Exploration
Feb 26, 2016
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194
Magnetic storms can interfere with the operation of electric power grids and damage grid infrastructure. They can also disrupt directional drilling for oil and gas, radio communications, communication satellites and GPS systems.
Earth Sciences
Jan 8, 2016
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