All articles tagged with #solar plasma
New research suggests that particles in solar flares are 6.5 times hotter than previously believed, with ions reaching over 60 million degrees, potentially solving a long-standing mystery about flare spectral line widths and indicating a paradigm shift in understanding solar flare heating mechanisms.
Sky watchers around the world witnessed a stunning display of the aurora borealis, with colorful lights flashing across the night sky in North America, Europe, and Australia. Additionally, an unusual phenomenon known as STEVE, an elongated band of green and purplish light caused by a ribbon of plasma in the atmosphere, was also observed. The display was a result of two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) impacting Earth's magnetic field, leading to a G3 geomagnetic storm. The event was visible at lower latitudes than usual, with sightings primarily reported in the northern British Isles.
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has captured images of a large sunspot moving across the solar disk, providing a one-week warning of its approach towards Earth. Sunspots are areas on the sun's surface with strong magnetic fields and can lead to solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which can disrupt satellite navigation and power grids. While monitoring sunspots is important, Perseverance's primary mission is to search for signs of life on Mars and collect samples for future return to Earth. The rover is currently exploring Mars' Jezero Crater, accompanied by the Ingenuity helicopter.