solar
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Space & Cosmos
A close look at solar fires: Newly analyzed data provides high-resolution views of the entire solar disk for the first time
Solar surface in visible light, constructed from data from Solar Orbiter’s instrument PHI on March 22, 2023. Credit: ESA&NASA/Solar Orbiter/PHI Team The entire solar disk in unprecedented detail. This is illustrated by images of the visible surface of the Sun. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research created it from 25 individual images taken by the ESA…
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Space & Cosmos
Solar wind power likely controls Uranus’ thermosphere temperature
Uranus captured by Webb’s near-infrared camera. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI Uranus’ upper atmosphere has been cooling for decades, and now scientists have discovered why. Observations from Earth show that Uranus’ upper atmosphere has been cooling for decades, but there is no clear explanation. Now, a team led by scientists from Imperial College London has determined that unpredictable long-term changes…
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Physics
Kinetic Alfvén waves may be the key to the mystery of solar coronal heating
Geometry of obliquely propagating Alfvén waves. This schematic diagram shows the fitted geometry of a KAW in a circular cross-section solar flux tube loop of height h and radius a. Credit: Scientific Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-77975-6 Saeed Ayaz, a researcher at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), published a paper in Scientific Reports based on a first-of-its-kind study examining…
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Space & Cosmos
Carbon-storing molecules discovered in distant interstellar clouds may shed light on how our own solar system formed
The Taurus Molecular Cloud, where TMC-1 is located, appears at the top of the image as a dark cloud blocking light from background stars, as seen from Charlottesville, Virginia. Credit: Brett A. McGuire A team led by MIT researchers has discovered that distant interstellar clouds are rich in pyrene, a type of large carbon-containing molecule known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons…
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Space & Cosmos
The sun reaches its maximum in the 11-year solar cycle
Images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory highlight what the Sun looks like during solar minimum (left, December 2019) and solar maximum (right, May 2024). These images are at 171 wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light and reveal active regions of the Sun that are commonly seen during solar maxima. Credit: NASA/SDO Representatives from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),…
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Science
New study reveals unexpected interaction between Mars and the solar wind
Main regions and boundaries of the degenerate magnetosphere and the near-Mars environment (near-parallel IMF). Credit: Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07959-z Scientists from the Swedish Institute of Astrophysics (IRF) in Kiruna and Umeå University have discovered that under certain conditions the induced magnetosphere of Mars can degrade, their findings are published in a new study in the journal Nature. An induced magnetosphere…
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