Tagged: sun

Powerful solar storms can hammer Earth, causing major technology glitches. One of the best-remembered events is the Quebec power grid failure of 1989, a 12-hour blackout in which millions of people found themselves in dark office buildings, stalled elevators, and underground pedestrian tunnels. Going farther...

Burning questions about the sun’s atmosphere The visible surface of the sun, or the photosphere, is around 6,000 degrees Celsius (11,000 degrees Fahrenheit). But a few thousand kilometers above it – a small distance when we consider the size of the sun – the solar...

As the Parker Solar Probe ventures closer to the sun, we are learning new things about our home star. In a new study, physicists led by the University of Iowa report the first definitive measurements of the sun’s electric field, and how the electric field...

The sun emitted a significant solar flare peaking at 10:29 a.m. EDT on July 3, 2021. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass...

The visible surface of the sun, or the photosphere, is around 6,000°C. But a few thousand kilometers above it—a small distance when we consider the size of the sun—the solar atmosphere, also called the corona, is hundreds of times hotter, reaching a million degrees celsius...

Since the launch of Sputnik, the Earth’s first artificial satellite, in 1957, more than 41,500 tons of manmade objects have been placed in orbit around the sun, the Earth, and other planetary bodies. Since that time, the majority of objects, such as rocket bodies and...

Researchers have confirmed the existence of magnetic plasma waves, known as Alfvén waves, in the Sun’s photosphere. The study, published in Nature Astronomy, provides new insights into these fascinating waves that were first discovered by the Nobel Prize winning scientist Hannes Alfvén in 1947. The...

NASA’s images of the sun’s dynamic and dazzling beauty have captivated the attention of millions. In 2021, the US Postal Service is showcasing the sun’s many faces with a series of sun Science forever stamps that show images of solar activity captured by NASA’s Solar...

Name: Solar Orbiter, or “Solo’ as the mission control team fondly call it, is one of the European Space Agency’s pluckiest missions and is now cruising toward the sun. Age: One year old! We launched on 10 February 2020. Granted, it was first powered up...

Though they focus on the star at the center of our solar system, three of NASA’s Sun-watching spacecraft have captured unique views of the planets throughout the last several months. Using instruments that look not at the Sun itself, but at the constant outflow of...