Category Astronomy/Space

An illustration to explain the dynamics of the ultra-relativistic third Van Allen radiation belt, by Andy Kale. Credit: Andy Kale

Like a protective shield, the Earth’s magnetosphere absorbs and deflects plasma from the solar wind which originates from the Sun. When conditions are right, beautiful dancing auroral displays are generated. But when the solar wind is most violent, extreme space weather storms can create intense radiation in the Van Allen belts and drive electrical currents which can damage terrestrial electrical power grids. Earth could then be at risk for up to trillions of dollars of damage.

A new discovery shows for the first time how the puzzling third Van Allen radiation belt is created by a “space tsunami...

Venus’ electric wind. Credit: NASA/Conceptual Image Lab.

Venus has an ‘electric wind’ strong enough to remove the components of water from its upper atmosphere, which may have played a significant role in stripping the planet of its oceans. Glyn Collinson, Goddard Space Flight Center said: “We never dreamt an electric wind could be so powerful that it can suck oxygen right out of an atmosphere into space. This is something that definitely has to be on the checklist when we go looking for habitable planets around other stars.” The study found Venus’ electric field is so strong that it can accelerate the heavy electrically charged component of water – oxygen – to speeds fast enough to escape the planet’s gravity.

When water molecules rise into the upper atmosphere, sunlight breaks the water ...

BD+44°493 (α=02h 26m 49.74s, δ=+44° 57′ 46.52″ J2000.0) is the brightest known second-generation star in the sky and lies in eastern Andromeda. Image credit: Aladin Sky Atlas; Digitised Sky Survey — STScI/NASA, Coloured & Healpixed by CDS.

No one has yet observed the first stars that formed in the Milky Way. In all likelihood, they will never be directly observed, because the first stars are massive, ending their lives only a few millions years after their birth. But, astronomers can study those oldest stars by examining the elements these stars produce through nuclear fusion and the supernova explosions that mark the spectacular ends of their short lives.

Timothy Beers, the Notre Dame Chair in Astrophysics, is part of a team that has used the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on...

On July 4, NASA will fly a solar-powered spacecraft the size of a basketball court within 2,900 miles of the cloud tops of our solar system’s largest planet. As of June 16, Juno is 18 days and 8.6 million miles from Jupiter. On the evening of July 4, Juno will fire its main engine for 35 minutes, placing it into a polar orbit around the gas giant. During the flybys, Juno will probe beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and study its auroras to learn more about the planet’s origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

A series of 37 planned close approaches during the mission will eclipse the previous record for Jupiter set in 1974 by NASA’s Pioneer 11 spacecraft of 27,000 miles...