News tagged with suns atmosphere

Science nugget: Catching solar particles infiltrating Earth's atmosphere

(Phys.org) -- On May 17, 2012 an M-class flare exploded from the sun. The eruption also shot out a burst of solar particles traveling at nearly the speed of light that reached Earth about 20 minutes after ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Solar Dynamics Observatory to observe Venus transit

On June 5, 2012 at 6:03 PM EDT, the planet Venus will do something it has done only seven times since the invention of the telescope: cross in front of the sun. This transit is among the rarest of planetary ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jun 01, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

NSO to use Venus transit to fine-tune search for other worlds

A century ago, scientists chased transits of Mercury and Venus in an effort to size up our solar system. Next week, they will use the last Venus transit for a century to learn how to size up other solar systems as we search ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 30, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Solar storm dumps gigawatts into Earth's upper atmosphere

A recent flurry of eruptions on the sun did more than spark pretty auroras around the poles.  NASA-funded researchers say the solar storms of March 8th through 10th dumped enough energy in Earth’s ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (12) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Plasma jets are prime suspect in solar mystery

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the most enduring mysteries in solar physics is why the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, is millions of degrees hotter than its surface. Now scientists believe they have discovered ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 06, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

NASA's New Eye on the Sun Delivers Stunning First Images (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, is returning early images that confirm an unprecedented new capability for scientists to better understand our sun’s dynamic processes. ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 21, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (29) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Magnetic 'ropes' tie down solar eruptions (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Using data from the Hinode spacecraft, a team of researchers from University College London (UCL) have revealed an immense magnetic structure that erupted to produce a dramatic solar eruption ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Apr 12, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Living in the galactic danger zone

We know for certain that life exists in the Milky Way galaxy: that life is us. Scientists are continually looking to understand more about how life on our planet came to be and the conditions that must be ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Sep 23, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 12 | with audio podcast

New NASA missions to investigate how Mars turned hostile

(PhysOrg.com) -- Maybe because it appears as a speck of blood in the sky, the planet Mars was named after the Roman god of war. From the point of view of life as we know it, that's appropriate. The Martian ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 18, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

SOHO mission 'pick of the week' hits impressive milestone

(PhysOrg.com) -- In late November, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory's (SOHO) online "Pick of the Week" reached an impressive milestone: its 500th edition. This is an incredibly popular feature, which ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 05, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

SPICE geoengineering project delayed due to critics issues

(PhysOrg.com) -- Last month it was announced that a group of researchers had come together to start a geoengineering project called Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering (SPICE). Its aim ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Oct 05, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 6 | with audio podcast weblog

Hinode's first light... and five more years

(PhysOrg.com) -- On October 28, 2006, the Hinode solar mission was at last ready. The spacecraft launched on September 22, but such missions require a handful of diagnostics before the instruments can be turned ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 02, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Scientists find giant solar twists

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have, for the first time, detected giant twisting waves in the lower atmosphere of the Sun, shedding light on the mystery of the Sun's corona (the region around the Sun, extending ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Mar 19, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 0

A bubbling ball of gas (w/ Video)

The Sun is a bubbling mass. Packages of gas rise and sink, lending the sun its grainy surface structure, its granulation. Dark spots appear and disappear, clouds of matter dart up - and behind the whole thing ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 11, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (18) | comments 7

Tidal locking could render habitable planets inhospitable

Tidally-locked planets - planets with one side perpetually facing their star while the other remains shrouded in darkness - tend to be warmer on one side than the other. The presence of an atmosphere can help ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 09, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 8 | with audio podcast