Why are auroras so hard to predict? And when can we expect more?
On Saturday evening before Mother's Day, Australians witnessed a rare celestial spectacle: a breathtaking display of aurora australis, also known as the southern lights.
On Saturday evening before Mother's Day, Australians witnessed a rare celestial spectacle: a breathtaking display of aurora australis, also known as the southern lights.
Planetary Sciences
May 14, 2024
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Auroras lit up skies across swaths of the planet for the second night in a row on Saturday, after already dazzling Earthlings from the United States to Tasmania to the Bahamas the day before.
Planetary Sciences
May 12, 2024
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Defeating dust may be a small concern for most people on Earth, but for astronauts and spacecraft destined for the moon or Mars, it is a significant hazard that must be mitigated. That's why researchers at NASA's Kennedy ...
Space Exploration
Apr 11, 2024
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The heliosphere—made of solar wind, solar transients, and the interplanetary magnetic field—acts as our solar system's personal shield, protecting the planets from galactic cosmic rays. These extremely energetic particles ...
Astronomy
Mar 29, 2024
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Universe Today has examined the importance of studying impact craters, planetary surfaces, exoplanets, astrobiology, solar physics, comets, and planetary atmospheres, and how these intriguing scientific disciplines can help ...
Astrobiology
Mar 19, 2024
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April 17, 2021, was a day like any other day on the sun, until a brilliant flash erupted and an enormous cloud of solar material billowed away from our star. Such outbursts from the sun are not unusual, but this one was unusually ...
Astronomy
Mar 4, 2024
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To quote NASA associate administrator Jim Reuter, sending crewed missions to Mars by 2040 is an "audacious goal." The challenges include the distance involved, which can take up to six months to traverse using conventional ...
Space Exploration
Feb 27, 2024
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A new planet starts its life in a rotating circle of gas and dust, a cradle known as a protostellar disk. My colleagues and I have used computer simulations to show that newborn gas planets in these disks are likely to have ...
Astronomy
Feb 17, 2024
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Much like the Earth, our sun is a dynamic body with a complex—and sometimes violent—weather system. Solar storms eject highly energetic radiation that can impact our planet, forming strong auroras and disrupting power ...
Astronomy
Jan 25, 2024
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In the coming years, NASA plans to send several astrobiology missions to Venus and Mars to search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. These will occur alongside crewed missions to the moon (for the first time since the ...
Space Exploration
Jan 24, 2024
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