At Last, Physicists Report Definitive Evidence of How Brilliant Auroras Are Created
The aurora borealis, or northern lights, that fill the sky in high-latitude regions have fascinated people for thousands of years. But how they’re created, while…
Space Weather
Which Way Does the Solar Wind Blow? Supercomputers Improve Space Weather Prediction
Using supercomputers, researchers develop new software for improved space weather prediction. The surface of the sun churns with energy and frequently ejects masses of highly-magnetized…
Science Made Simple: Earth’s Upper Atmosphere
The Earth’s atmosphere has four primary layers: the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. These layers protect our planet by absorbing harmful radiation. Thermosphere 53–375 Miles…
Edge of Space: The Science of NASA’s AIM Spacecraft
Launched in 2007, the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere, or AIM, mission is the first detailed exploration of Earth’s unique and elusive clouds that…
KiNET-X Experiment: NASA Launches Rocket in Search of Aurora Answers
NASA launched one of its largest sounding rockets Sunday from an East Coast facility in an experiment led by a University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical…
New Method Invented for Predicting Solar Radio Flux Two Years Ahead
Scientists at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) and their colleagues from the University of Graz & the Kanzelhöhe Observatory (Austria) and the…
Extreme Space Weather Danger: Moon Mission Delays Could Increase Risks From Solar Storms
First study of timing of extreme space weather events reveals clear pattern. Planned missions to return humans to the Moon need to hurry up to…
Space Weather Puzzle Unlocked by Supercomputer Simulations
Scientists have long questioned why the bursts of hot gas from the Sun do not cool down as fast as expected, and now a UCL-led…
Diffuse Auroral Eraser: Physicists Discover a New Type of Aurora
The famed northern and southern lights have been studied for millennia, but they still hold secrets. In a new study, physicists led by the University…
Solar Orbiter Images First Coronal Mass Ejections – See the Stunning Videos From Multiple Instruments
Combining imagery from three of Solar Orbiter’s remote sensing instruments – the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), the Metis coronagraph, and Solar Orbiter’s Heliospheric Imager (SoloHI)…
SHIELDS Up! NASA Rocket Launched to Survey Our Solar System’s Windshield
Eleven billion miles away – more than four times the distance from us to Pluto – lies the boundary of our solar system’s magnetic bubble,…
The Aurora’s Very High Altitude Booster Creates Dazzling Displays
Electrons arriving from the Sun are propelled by electrical energy generated as high as 30,000 kilometers above Earth, ultimately creating the dazzling displays of the…
Social Network Inspired Algorithms Reveal Lifecycle of Auroral Substorms, a Key Element of Space Weather
Evolution of auroral substorms revealed by physicists at University of Warwick using the same methods that link people through social media ‘If you like this…
Space Hurricane Observed Over the Earth for the First Time
The first observations of a space hurricane have been revealed in Earth’s upper atmosphere, confirming their existence and shedding new light on the relationship between…
NASA Super Soaker Mission Seeks to Understand Bright Night-Shining Clouds by Creating One
Since the late 1800s, observers have searched the polar skies for elusive, high-flying clouds that shine in the darkness. These polar mesospheric clouds, or PMCs,…
Lunar Gateway Instruments to Improve Space Weather Forecasting for Artemis Astronauts
One of the first things people want to know before taking a trip is what the weather will be like wherever they are headed. For…
Swarm Satellite Constellation Makes Surprising Discovery About Space Weather
Using information from ESA’s Swarm satellite constellation, scientists have made a discovery about how energy generated by electrically-charged particles in the solar wind flows into…
Alien Life on Exoplanets: The Upside of Volatile Space Weather
Robust stellar flares might not prevent life on exoplanets, could facilitate its detection. Although violent and unpredictable, stellar flares emitted by a planet’s host star…