Even though Earth's magnetic field shields us from solar wind and space weather, it doesn't always offer complete protection. Researchers have discovered a new mechanism in Earth's space environment that can allow solar particles ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 1, 2022
1
377
What a spectacle a big aurora is, its shimmering curtains and colorful rays of light illuminating a dark sky. Many people refer to aurora as the northern lights (the aurora borealis), but there are southern lights too (the ...
Planetary Sciences
Jan 21, 2022
0
109
Four CubeSats—CubIXSS, SunCET, DYNAGLO, and WindCube—have been selected by NASA's Heliophysics Flight Opportunities in Research and Technology program in cooperation with NASA's Space Weather Science Application. Together, ...
Astronomy
Dec 14, 2021
0
53
There's a pretty significant disadvantage to going really fast—if you get hit with anything, even if it is small, it can hurt. So when the fastest artificial object ever—the Parker Solar Probe—gets hit by grains of ...
Space Exploration
Nov 30, 2021
0
36
NASA has selected the CubeSat Imaging X-Ray Solar Spectrometer (CubIXSS), led by Southwest Research Institute, to measure the elemental composition of hot, multimillion-degree plasmas in the Sun's corona—its outermost atmosphere. ...
Astronomy
Nov 1, 2021
2
76
The sun routinely produces energetic electrons in its outer atmosphere that subsequently travel through interplanetary space. These electron beams generate Langmuir waves in the background plasma, producing type III radio ...
Astronomy
Sep 8, 2021
0
69
Think of light bulb filaments that glow when you flip a switch. That glow also occurs in magnetic fusion facilities known as tokamaks that are designed to harness the energy that powers the sun and stars. Understanding how ...
Plasma Physics
Aug 31, 2021
5
82
Have you ever imagined your smart phone or tablet without a touch screen? This could soon be the case if we run out of indium, one of the rarest minerals on Earth.
Materials Science
Jul 20, 2021
0
11
Nothing seems more familiar than the sun in the sky. But mysterious swirls, jets, and flashes of powerful light that scientists cannot explain occur in the sun's outer atmosphere all the time. Now, researchers at the U.S. ...
Plasma Physics
Jul 8, 2021
1
13
The surface of the sun churns with energy and frequently ejects masses of highly-magnetized plasma towards Earth. Sometimes these ejections are strong enough to crash through the magnetosphere—the natural magnetic shield ...
Astronomy
Jun 3, 2021
8
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