Space and astrophysical plasma as a physical system refers to ionized gases permeating cosmic environments such as the interstellar and intergalactic medium, stellar winds, accretion disks, and magnetospheres. These plasmas are typically low-collisionality, often magnetized, and governed by collective electromagnetic interactions described by magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), kinetic theory, or hybrid models. Key properties include Debye shielding, anisotropic pressure, and nonthermal particle distributions, with dynamics dominated by magnetic reconnection, turbulence, waves, and instabilities. Space and astrophysical plasmas are central to energy and momentum transport, cosmic ray acceleration, and radiation processes across a vast range of spatial and temporal scales.
With the most powerful radio telescope in the southern hemisphere, we have observed a twinkling star and discovered an abundance of mysterious plasma structures in our cosmic neighborhood.
Astronomy
Apr 21, 2025
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An international team of astrophysicists and planetary scientists has discovered a possible link between magnetospheric activity and ionospheric turbulence. In their study published in the journal Physical Review Letters, ...
In magnetic reconnection, adjacent magnetic field lines break and snap together to form new lines. This process converts magnetic energy to both thermal energy, or heat, and kinetic energy, or the acceleration of particles, ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 14, 2025
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Black holes are fundamental to the structure of galaxies and critical in our understanding of gravity, space, and time. A stellar mass black hole is a type of black hole that forms from the gravitational collapse of a massive ...
Astronomy
Apr 9, 2025
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Thin film devices, composed of layers of materials a few nanometers thick, play an important role in various technologies, from semiconductors to communication technologies. For instance, graphene and hexagonal-boron nitride ...
Nanomaterials
Mar 19, 2025
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A recent study has shed new light on the dynamic evolution of solar prominences. By integrating high-resolution observational data from the one-meter New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST) with spectral observations from NASA's ...
Astronomy
Mar 18, 2025
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Using data collected by NASA's Juno spacecraft as it flew past Jupiter's highly volcanic moon Io in late 2023 and again in early 2024, a Southwest Research Institute-led team identified electrons with energies enhanced by ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 11, 2025
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A large team of researchers working on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Collaboration, which has been analyzing eleven years' worth of data from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) aboard the International Space Station, ...
The sun, a searing hot sphere of gas primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, boasts surface and outer atmospheric temperatures ranging from 10,000 to 3.6 million degrees Fahrenheit on its surface and its atmosphere's outermost ...
Planetary Sciences
Jan 18, 2025
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Results from a 2021 experiment led by a University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist have begun to reveal the particle-level processes that create the type of auroras that dance rapidly across the sky.
Plasma Physics
Dec 20, 2024
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