Space weather refers to the time-varying conditions in near-Earth space and throughout the heliosphere driven primarily by solar activity, including the solar wind, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), solar flares, and variations in the interplanetary magnetic field. As a physical phenomenon, it encompasses the coupling of solar outputs with Earth’s magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere, producing geomagnetic storms, substorms, ionospheric disturbances, and energetic particle events. These processes are governed by magnetohydrodynamic and plasma-physical interactions, including magnetic reconnection, wave–particle interactions, and particle acceleration, and are quantitatively characterized using indices such as Kp, Dst, AE, and measures of solar wind and IMF parameters.
The impacts of space weather such as extreme solar winds and magnetic waves are not limited to outer space. Bursts of plasma emanating from the sun, for instance, can temporarily intensify electric and magnetic fields on ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 23, 2025
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NASA is launching rockets from a remote Pacific island to study mysterious, high-altitude cloud-like structures that can disrupt critical communication systems. The mission, called Sporadic-E ElectroDynamics, or SEED, opens ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 12, 2025
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37
Scientists analyzing data from NASA's CODEX (Coronal Diagnostic Experiment) investigation have successfully evaluated the instrument's first images, revealing the speed and temperature of material flowing out from the sun. ...
Astronomy
Jun 11, 2025
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June 10 morning's weather was nice enough on the Space Coast for one of two planned launches, but high winds at a potential abort site forced the human spaceflight plans of Axiom Space and SpaceX to push the Ax-4 mission ...
Space Exploration
Jun 11, 2025
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Local weather alerts are familiar warnings for potentially dangerous conditions, but an alert that puts all of Earth on warning is rare.
Astronomy
Jun 10, 2025
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A trio of heliophysicists and satellite trackers at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute at the University of Maryland has found evidence showing that Starlink satellites reenter ...
Solar storms have the potential to cause catastrophic damage. One that occurred around the end of October 2003 (now called the 2003 Halloween Storm) caused an estimated $27B in damages. That number will only increase as humanity ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 2, 2025
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25
Some 13,000 years ago, the sun emitted a huge belch of radiation that bombarded Earth and left its imprint in ancient tree rings. That solar storm was the most powerful one ever recorded. The next strongest was the 1859 Carrington ...
Planetary Sciences
May 22, 2025
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113
An international team of scientists has discovered an extreme spike in radiocarbon corresponding to the year 12350 BC during the dusk of the last Ice Age. However, the strength of the event could not be assessed earlier because ...
Planetary Sciences
May 15, 2025
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1231
On March 15, 2024, near the peak of the current solar cycle, the sun produced a solar flare and an accompanying coronal mass ejection (CME), a massive explosion of gas and magnetic energy that carries with it large amounts ...
Planetary Sciences
May 14, 2025
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