Every morning, astronomer Steve Padilla takes a short walk from his home to the base of a tower that soars 150 feet above the ground. Tucked in the San Gabriel Mountains, about an hour's drive north from Los Angeles, the ...
Astronomy
Sep 16, 2020
0
109
On May 29, 2020, a family of sunspots—dark spots that freckle the face of the sun, representing areas of complex magnetic fields—sported the biggest solar flare since October 2017. Although the sunspots are not yet visible ...
Astronomy
Jun 1, 2020
0
324
The past decade (2010-2019) was the hottest on record and five of the top 10 warmest single years have all occurred since 2015, according to reports released by the UK Met Office and the World Meteorological Organisation.
Earth Sciences
Jan 24, 2020
24
306
In a pair of new papers, scientists paint a picture of how solar cycles suddenly die, potentially causing tsunamis of plasma to race through the Sun's interior and trigger the birth of the next sunspot cycle only a few short ...
Space Exploration
Jul 24, 2019
10
178
On Sep. 1, 1859, solar astronomer Richard Carrington witnessed sunspots that suddenly and briefly flashed brightly before they disappeared. Just before dawn the next day, auroras erupted over most of the Earth, reaching as ...
Space Exploration
Jul 11, 2019
1
1
Scientists charged with predicting the sun's activity for the next 11-year solar cycle say that it's likely to be weak, much like the current one. The current solar cycle, Cycle 24, is declining and predicted to reach solar ...
Space Exploration
Apr 8, 2019
6
56
The sun's activity influences environmental conditions in space adversely affecting satellites and space-based technologies such as telecommunications and navigational networks. The sun is also the primary natural source ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 6, 2018
0
8
The sun's activity waxes and wanes periodically and holds sway over our space environment. Sunspots, strongly magnetized blotches on the solar surface, sometimes release fierce storms in space that severely impact our satellite ...
Astronomy
Jul 13, 2018
0
8
Using more than a half-century of observations, Japanese astronomers have discovered that the microwaves coming from the sun at the minimums of the past five solar cycles have been the same each time, despite large differences ...
Space Exploration
Nov 17, 2017
0
42
Few people have heard of Hisako Koyama, but the dedicated female solar observer, born in Tokyo in 1916, created one of the most important sunspot records of the past 400 years, according to new research.
Space Exploration
Oct 2, 2017
2
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