Fast magnetic reconnection, the rapid convergence, separation and explosive snapping together of magnetic field lines, gives rise to northern lights, solar flares and geomagnetic storms that can disrupt cell phone service ...
Plasma Physics
Feb 19, 2019
1
192
New data from NASA's Cassini mission, combined with measurements from the two Voyager spacecraft and NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, suggests that our sun and planets are surrounded by a giant, rounded system ...
Space Exploration
Apr 24, 2017
15
4178
In just a few days, the Pilot astrophysics experiment will be launched under a stratospheric balloon from Alice Springs in central Australia. Its aim is to observe the polarized emission of dust particles found in the interstellar ...
Astronomy
Apr 21, 2017
0
4
Look towards the north-west after sunset (south-west in the northern hemisphere) and there is currently one bright point of light that easily stands out relative to everything around it. That is the planet Jupiter, shining ...
Space Exploration
Jul 5, 2016
6
295
Immediately after its 2008 launch, NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spotted a curiosity in a thin slice of space: More particles streamed in through a long, skinny swath in the sky than anywhere else. The origin ...
Space Exploration
Feb 27, 2016
14
2411
Humanity has visited Uranus only once, and that was 30 years ago. NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft got its closest look at the mysterious, distant, gaseous planet on Jan. 24, 1986.
Space Exploration
Jan 25, 2016
7
95
In a study published today in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, scientists from the University of New Hampshire and colleagues answer the question of why NASA's Voyager 1, when it became the first probe to enter interstellar ...
Space Exploration
Oct 28, 2015
21
3115
Portrayed in this image from ESA's Planck satellite are the two Magellanic Clouds, among the nearest companions of our Milky Way galaxy. The Large Magellanic Cloud, about 160 000 light-years away, is the large red and orange ...
Astronomy
Sep 7, 2015
4
122
As the sun skims through the galaxy, it flings out charged particles in a stream of plasma called the solar wind, and the solar wind creates a bubble extending far outside the solar system known as the heliosphere. For decades, ...
Astronomy
Feb 19, 2015
76
107
While the pastel tones and fine texture of this image may bring to mind brush strokes on an artist's canvas, they are in fact a visualisation of data from ESA's Planck satellite. The image portrays the interaction between ...
Astronomy
Dec 16, 2014
14
5
