Solar transition region supersonic downflows (SDs) are downward falling mass flux toward the sunspots. This phenomenon commonly exists above most sunspots. In IRIS spectra, SDs are often observed as strongly redshifted secondary ...
Astronomy
Apr 6, 2022
0
104
In direct contradiction to the official forecast, a team of scientists led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is predicting that the Sunspot Cycle that started this fall could be one of the strongest since ...
Space Exploration
Dec 7, 2020
1
1898
The world's largest solar observatory, the U.S. National Science Foundation's Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, just released its first image of a sunspot. Although the telescope is still in the final phases of completion, ...
Space Exploration
Dec 4, 2020
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11834
On November 18 scientists from the US National Science Foundation's National Solar Observatory predicted the arrival of a large sunspot just in time for Thanksgiving. Using a special technique called helioseismology, the ...
Space Exploration
Nov 24, 2020
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138
New research shows that sunspots and other active regions can change the overall solar emissions. The sunspots cause some emissions to dim and others to brighten; the timing of the changes also varies between different types ...
Astronomy
Oct 12, 2020
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155
NASA's extensive fleet of spacecraft allows scientists to study the Sun extremely close-up—one of the agency's spacecraft is even on its way to fly through the Sun's outer atmosphere. But sometimes taking a step back can ...
Space Exploration
Oct 9, 2020
3
393
Every morning, astronomer Steve Padilla takes a short walk from his home to the base of a tower that soars 150 feet above the ground. Tucked in the San Gabriel Mountains, about an hour's drive north from Los Angeles, the ...
Astronomy
Sep 16, 2020
0
109
On May 29, 2020, a family of sunspots—dark spots that freckle the face of the sun, representing areas of complex magnetic fields—sported the biggest solar flare since October 2017. Although the sunspots are not yet visible ...
Astronomy
Jun 1, 2020
0
324
For 400 years people have tracked sunspots, the dark patches that appear for weeks at a time on the sun's surface. They have observed but been unable to explain why the number of spots peaks every 11 years.
Plasma Physics
Sep 19, 2019
2
352
In a pair of new papers, scientists paint a picture of how solar cycles suddenly die, potentially causing tsunamis of plasma to race through the Sun's interior and trigger the birth of the next sunspot cycle only a few short ...
Space Exploration
Jul 24, 2019
10
178
