One of the big questions in solar physics is why the sun's activity follows a regular cycle of 11 years. Researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), an independent German research institute, now present ...
Space Exploration
May 28, 2019
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On March 13, 1989 the entire province of Quebec, Canada suffered an electrical power blackout. Hundreds of blackouts occur in some part of North America every year. The Quebec Blackout was different, because this one was ...
Space Exploration
Mar 13, 2009
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January saw the biggest solar storm since 2005, generating some of the most dazzling northern lights in recent memory.
Plasma Physics
Feb 15, 2012
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To make solar cells a competitive alternative to other renewable energy sources, researchers are investigating different alternatives. A step in the right direction is through new processes that change the surfaces of silicon ...
Nanomaterials
May 26, 2011
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Much of the exciting action is space is confined to thin boundaries. The Universe is filled with plasma, a charged gas consisting of ions and electrons. Thin sheets with currents separate large plasma regions in space. Scientists ...
Plasma Physics
Aug 1, 2012
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Magnetic reconnection could be the Universe's favorite way to make things explode. It operates anywhere magnetic fields pervade space--which is to say almost everywhere. On the sun magnetic reconnection causes solar flares ...
General Physics
Aug 31, 2009
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The ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft has discovered a multitude of tiny jets of material escaping from the sun's outer atmosphere. Each jet lasts between 20 and 100 seconds, and expels plasma at around 100 km/s. These jets ...
Astronomy
Aug 25, 2023
0
192
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
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109
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has observed a magnetic explosion the likes of which have never been seen before. In the scorching upper reaches of the Sun's atmosphere, a prominence—a large loop of material launched ...
Astronomy
Dec 17, 2019
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Auroras are the most visible manifestation of the sun's effect on Earth, but many aspects of these spectacular displays are still poorly understood. Thanks to the joint European Space Agency and NASA's Cluster mission combined ...
Space Exploration
Dec 18, 2014
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