solar storm tagged posts

Magnetic Field Maps of the Sun’s Corona

A purple and yellow image shows flares coming off the side of the sun and looping back. An inset shows the actual data of the coronal map  in black and white
The NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope presents its first map of the solar coronal magnetic field signals as measured using the Zeeman Effect. The Zeeman Effect polarizes the coronal emission, which requires the advancements of the Inouye Solar Telescope to measure as its signals are only a few parts per billion of the Sun’s surface brightness. The background image identifies the region observed in detail by Inouye as imaged by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory in ultraviolet light. Credit: NSF/NSO/AURA

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Daniel K...

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New Tools for Predicting Arrival, Impact of Solar Storms

On Jan. 7, 2014, the Sun's surface erupted with an unusually large explosion, called coronal mass ejection (CME), with NOAA releasing a significant false alarm geomagnetic storm at Earth. Credit: NASA

On Jan. 7, 2014, the Sun’s surface erupted with an unusually large explosion, called coronal mass ejection (CME), with NOAA releasing a significant false alarm geomagnetic storm at Earth. Credit: NASA

When the sun hurls a billion tons of high-energy particles and magnetic fields into space at speeds of >a million miles/ hour and the ‘space weather’ conditions are right, the resulting geomagnetic storm at Earth can wreak havoc on communication and navigation systems, electrical power grids, and pose radiation hazards to astronauts and airline passengers and crew.

University of New Hampshire’s Space Science Center (SSC) scientists are now adding some powerful tools to the predictive toolbox using data from NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, Geo-chemistry, and Ranging, or MESSENGER,...

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