All Articles Tagged As: solar wind

Magnetic Portals Connect Sun and Earth (11/2/2008)

Approximately every eight minutes, the magnetic fields of the sun and earth briefly merge or "reconnect," forming a portal through which particles can flow ...> Full Article

Hidden Boundaries Of Sunspots Pump Out Plasma Into Interplanetary Space (10/16/2008)

Using new information from Hinode, an international mission to study the sun, scientists have found that the dim areas at the edges of active regions may hold the key to understanding how the sun converts vast amounts of energy from its surface into the solar wind ...> Full Article

NASA spacecraft ready to explore outer solar system (10/8/2008)

The first NASA spacecraft to image and map the dynamic interactions taking place where the hot solar wind slams into the cold expanse of space is ready for launch ...> Full Article

Solar Wind Loses Power, Hits 50-year Low (9/27/2008)

Solar physicists announce that the solar wind is losing power ...> Full Article

Data add to understanding of Sun-Galaxy interaction (7/22/2008)

Analysis of data from spacecraft Voyager 2 shows that the solar wind, when collides with interstellar medium to enter the Solar System's final frontier, the heliosheath, turns out to be faster and cooler than scientists had previously expected ...> Full Article

Better understanding of space weather (6/23/2008)

The Importance of Ground-Based Solar-Terrestrial Physics ...> Full Article

Sun's corona is both hot and kinky (3/8/2008)

Astrophysicists are having a heated debate over the wave structure of the Sun's Corona - a debate which may one day influence solar weather forecasting and the theory behind fusion reactors. ...> Full Article

THEMIS probes view auroral substorms, bowshock explosions (12/15/2007)

Five satellites launched last February to probe magnetic storms around the Earth will move into prime observing position next month, but they already have produced important new information on the interactions between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetic field. ...> Full Article

Voyager 2 Proves Solar System Is Squashed (12/13/2007)

NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft has followed its twin Voyager 1 into the solar system's final frontier, a vast region at the edge of our solar system where the solar wind runs up against the thin gas between the stars. ...> Full Article

Scientists Snap Images Of Solar Wind Sweeping Past Earth (12/12/2007)

Using the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI) instruments on board NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft, a consortium of scientists has seen, for the first time, large waves of solar material sweeping past Earth. ...> Full Article

The Sun's Coming Back, and We'll Be Ready for It! (12/10/2007)

The Sun is minimally active right now, but this quiet state of affairs won't last for long. Over the next few years, the number of solar flares and eruptions known as coronal mass ejections will increase until reaching solar maximum in 2011 or 2012. Such eruptions can impact Earth, disrupting satellites, communications, and even power grids. Some predict the next solar cycle will be the most intense in 50 years. As a result, scientists are striving to understand the mechanism behind solar eruptions in hopes of eventually being able to predict them in a space "weather forecast." ...> Full Article

New insights on the origin of solar wind (12/8/2007)

Spectacular images and data from the Hinode mission have shed new light on the Sun's magnetic field and the origins of solar wind, which can disrupt power grids, satellites and communications on Earth. ...> Full Article

Analysis Of Solar Wind Helps Illuminate How Our Solar System Evolved (11/4/2007)

As reservoirs of valuable information go, nothing beats the sun. This sphere of heat and energy holds 99.9 percent of the solar system, saved in all original proportions after planets and meteorites formed. Analyzing the mix of hydrogen, oxygen and noble gases found in the sun can answer one of the biggest questions of the universe: How did our solar system evolve? ...> Full Article

Chance encounter with comet nets surprising results (10/2/2007)

Comets are made of the most primitive stuff in the solar system. As hunks of rock and ice that never coalesced into more planets, they give researchers clues to the evolution of solar systems. ...> Full Article