Tag: Sun
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Data from ESA’s Gaia mission reveals our Sun’s future and past
On June 13, the third major data release from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia mission revealed details about the past and future of our solar system’s star, the Sun, by using data collected by Gaia on stars of similar mass and composition to our Sun. Gaia is a star mapping mission and collects massive…
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Solar Orbiter successfully completes historic close pass of the Sun
On March 26, 2022, the joint European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft successfully completed its first close pass through the Sun’s corona, bringing the spacecraft’s specially-designed collection of instruments closer to the Sun than ever before. During the close pass, called perihelion, all ten of Solar Orbiter’s instruments operated simultaneously, working together…
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Starlink loss highlights current space weather prediction capabilities, coming advancements
On February 8, 2022, SpaceX announced the loss of around 40 of the 49 Starlink satellites launched on the Starlink Group 4-7 mission from LC-39A on February 3. For spacecraft initially orbiting at low altitudes, as the Starlinks did at the time upon deployment, many factors can lead to a craft not reaching its final…
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Starlink loss highlights current space weather prediction capabilities, coming advancements
On February 8, 2022, SpaceX announced the loss of around 40 of the 49 Starlink satellites launched on the Starlink Group 4-7 mission from LC-39A on February 3. For spacecraft initially orbiting at low altitudes, as the Starlinks did at the time upon deployment, many factors can lead to a craft not reaching its final…
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Coronal heating & solar wind, returns from solar missions shed light on Sun’s mysteries
It’s one of the greatest mysteries in solar physics. Dubbed the coronal heating problem, the issue arises from the fact that the solar corona, or Sun’s atmosphere, is millions of degrees hotter than the layers directly below it. This goes against modeling that suggests the corona should be far cooler than the layers below it.…
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NASA, JAXA look to Sun to understand life in other star systems
The Sun is both creator and destroyer. The one that can foster life one second and eliminate it the next. Most people are familiar with the harmful and hazardous effects the Sun can have to life on Earth if solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections, and their associated radiation, are delivered in just the right…
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NASA, JAXA look to Sun to understand life in other star systems
The Sun is both creator and destroyer. The one that can foster life one second and eliminate it the next. Most people are familiar with the harmful and hazardous effects the Sun can have to life on Earth if solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections, and their associated radiation, are delivered in just the right…
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Carrington Event still provides warning of Sun’s potential 161 years later
On 28 August 1859, a series of sunspots began to form on the surface of our stellar parent. The sunspots quickly tangled the Sun’s magnetic field lines in their area and produced bright, observed solar flares and one — likely two — Coronal Mass Ejections, one major. The massive solar storm impacted our planet on…
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Carrington Event still provides warning of Sun’s potential 161 years later
On 28 August 1859, a series of sunspots began to form on the surface of our stellar parent. The sunspots quickly tangled the Sun’s magnetic field lines in their area and produced bright, observed solar flares and one — likely two — Coronal Mass Ejections, one major. The massive solar storm impacted our planet on…
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Solar Orbiter reveals closest pictures, new science of the Sun
The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA have released the first pictures and preliminary findings captured by the Solar Orbiter, including intriguing glimpses of “campfires” near the solar surface that could shed new light on one of the biggest solar mysteries scientists are eager to learn more about. Numerous other scientific areas of intrigue were…