(PhysOrg.com) -- Telescopes spotted the first blemish on the sun in 1611. While the sun had long been thought—at least in the Western world—to be an unchanging, "perfect" orb, sky-watchers observed black sunspots ...
Space Exploration
Oct 28, 2011
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, has provided scientists new information about solar flares indicating an increase in strength and longevity that is more than previously thought.
Space Exploration
Sep 7, 2011
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Viewed from the technological perspective of modern humans, the sun is a seething cauldron of disruptive influences that can wreak havoc on communication systems, air travel, power grids and satellites – not to mention ...
Space Exploration
Aug 18, 2011
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The Sun unleashed an M-2 (medium-sized) solar flare, an S1-class (minor) radiation storm and a spectacular coronal mass ejection (CME) on June 7, 2011 from sunspot complex 1226-1227. The large cloud of particles mushroomed ...
Space Exploration
Jun 7, 2011
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The largest solar flare recorded in nearly five years was triggered by interactions between five rotating sunspots. Researchers at the University of Central Lancashire studied observations of the flaring ...
Space Exploration
Apr 21, 2011
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Sunspots have been observed for about four centuries, since they were first reported by Galileo. Appearing in roughly eleven-year cycles of activity, sunspots are regions of strong and complex magnetic fields which are also ...
Space Exploration
Apr 5, 2011
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Sunspots are huge, dark, irregularly shaped--and yet, temporary--areas of intense magnetism on the sun that expand and contract as they move.
Space Exploration
Jan 7, 2011
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(PhysOrg.com) -- There are now over 490 confirmed extrasolar planets. The vast majority are gas giants like Jupiter, but they are much stranger because many orbit close to their stars and so are much hotter than Jupiter (some ...
Astronomy
Oct 8, 2010
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The recent solar minimum extended fifteen months longer than predicted, and a new study may explain why, and improve the predictions for future solar cycles.
For some years now, an unorthodox idea has been gaining favor among astronomers. It contradicts old teachings and unsettles thoughtful observers, especially climatologists.
Space Exploration
Feb 5, 2010
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