42,000 years ago, a breakdown in Earth’s magnetic field led to environmental catastrophes and mass extinctions. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/magnetic-field-reversal-42000-years-ago-neanderthal-extinction…
Tag: solar flares
Sun’s bumpy magnetic fields might explain why its atmosphere is so hot
The best measurements yet of the magnetic fields in the upper layers of the sun have revealed a landscape of lumps and bumps that may help us predict solar flares Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2268544-suns-bumpy-magnetic-fields-might-explain-why-its-atmosphere-is-so-hot/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Top 12 brightest objects in the solar system
Can you name the top 12 brightest objects in the solar system? How many have you seen without the aid of binoculars or a telescope? Source: https://earthsky.org/space/what-are-the-brightest-objects-in-our-solar-system…
Check out these new Sun Science stamps!
The US Postal Service announced that they’ll be releasing a series of stamps highlighting images of the sun captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/new-sun-science-stamps-2021…
The sun in 2020
See a whole year of sun images, an image a day for 2020, taken by ESA’s Proba-2 satellite. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/sun-in-2020-movie-images…
Is a solar flare the same thing as a CME?
Solar Cycle 25 is here, and that means – in the years ahead – more solar flares and more coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. People sometimes use the words interchangeably, but they’re not the same thing. Here’s the difference. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/is-a-solar-flare-the-same-thing-as-a-cme…
Hostile space weather might not be all bad for exoplanet life
A new study from Northwestern University shows that solar flares – space weather – might not always be as dangerous for life on exoplanets as typically thought. In fact, it might even help astronomers discover alien life on distant worlds. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/hostile-space-weather-might-not-be-all-bad-for-exoplanet-life…
New sunspot cycle could be among strongest on record
A study of oppositely charged magnetic field bands, moving in the sun’s northern and southern hemispheres, suggests the coming sunspot cycle – Cycle 25 – will be a particularly strong one. This result contradicts an earlier expert forecast, suggesting a weak Cycle 25. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/sunspot-cycle-25-among-strongest-on-record-says-ncar…
Watch: 25 years of the sun
This video, merging more than 2 decades of footage from SOHO cameras, captures thousands of sunspots, flares, and coronal mass ejections breaking out from the sun. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/sun-25-years-video-solar-flare-cme-sunspot…
Adapting magnetometers for noisy, physically demanding environments
Researchers routinely measure magnetic fields to better understand a vast array of natural phenomena including geological movements, solar flares, neuronal communication in the brain, and molecular-scale chemical processes. …