Telegraph Gallery: Solar flares, coronal mass ejections and aurora borealis in pictures
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Storm photographer Mark Humpage took over 3,000 pictures of the sky hoping to catch the spectacular sight on Tuesday night, but instead got this star trail image. This impressive image was created by constantly taking pictures of the sky for six and a half hours then merging them into one compete image, revealing star trails as the earth rotates. Despite pointing his camera at the sky from 10pm to 4:30am for over 3,000 15-second exposures, Mark only caught one meteor on film (in the top left-hand corner) and it wasn't a Perseid meteor. Mark's ghostly figure can be seen in every one of his garden chairs, looking up at the night skies from different angles.
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A meteor seen over the Matka mountain, near the capitol Skopje,The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Picture: EPA
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Planck spacecraft helps explain formation of the Universe.
European Space Agency, 07/05/10
ESA's Planck mission has delivered its first all-sky image. It not only provides new insight into the way stars and galaxies form but also tells us how the Universe itself came to life after the Big Bang. "This is the moment that Planck was conceived for," says ESA Director of Science and Robotic Exploration, David Southwood.
"We're not giving the answer. We are opening the door to an Eldorado where scientists can seek the nuggets that will lead to deeper understanding of how our Universe came to be and how it works now. The image itself and its remarkable quality is a tribute to the engineers who built and have operated Planck. Now the scientific harvest must begin." From the closest portions of the Milky Way to the furthest reaches of space and time, the new all-sky Planck image is an extraordinary treasure chest of new data for astronomers.
.high res.
- The microwave sky as seen by Planck. This multi-frequency all-sky image of the microwave sky has been composed using data from Planck covering the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 GHz to 857 GHz. The mottled structure of the CMBR, with its tiny temperature fluctuations reflecting the primordial density variations from which today's cosmic structure originated, is clearly visible in the high-latitude regions of the map. The central band is the plane of our Galaxy. A large portion of the image is dominated by the diffuse emission from its gas and dust. The image was derived from data collected by Planck during its first all-sky survey and comes from observations taken between August 2009 and June 2010. This image is a low-resolution version of the full data set. To the right of the main image, below the plane of the Galaxy, is a large cloud of gas in our Galaxy. The obvious arc of light surrounding it is Barnard's Loop - the expanding bubble of an exploded star. Planck has seen whole other galaxies. The great spiral galaxy in Andromeda, 2.2 million light-years from Earth, appears as a sliver of microwave light, released by the coldest dust in its giant body. Other, more distant, galaxies with supermassive black holes appear as single points of microwaves dotting the image. Planck was built for ESA by the Prime Contractor Thales Alenia Space (Cannes, France) with contributions from space industry drawn from ESA's 18 Member States. Because of differing accounting procedures in the many bodies contributing, precise costings are impossible to give. However, the overall cost to ESA and its Member State institutions as well as cooperating agencies world- wide (including NASA and Canadian Space Agency) in round figures is 600 million euros. Credits: ESA/LFI and HFI Consortia
The main disc of our Galaxy runs across the centre of the image. Immediately striking are the streamers of cold dust reaching above and below the Milky Way. This galactic web is where new stars are being formed, and Planck has found many locations where individual stars are edging toward birth or just beginning their cycle of development. Less spectacular but perhaps more intriguing is the mottled backdrop at the top and bottom. This is the 'cosmic microwave background radiation' (CMBR). It is the oldest light in the Universe, the remains of the fireball out of which our Universe sprang into existence 13.7 billion years ago.
While the Milky Way shows us what the local Universe looks like now, those microwaves show us what the Universe looked like close to its time of creation, before there were stars or galaxies. Here we come to the heart of Planck's mission to decode what happened in that primordial Universe from the pattern of the mottled backdrop. The microwave pattern is the cosmic blueprint from which today's clusters and superclusters of galaxies were built. The different colours represent minute differences in the temperature and density of matter across the sky. Somehow these small irregularities evolved into denser regions that became the galaxies of today.
The CMBR covers the entire sky but most of it is hidden in this image by the Milky Way's emission, which must be digitally removed from the final data in order to see the microwave background in its entirety. When this work is completed, Planck will show us the most precise picture of the microwave background ever obtained. The big question will be whether the data will reveal the cosmic signature of the primordial period called inflation. This era is postulated to have taken place just after the Big Bang and resulted in the Universe expanding enormously in size over an extremely short period. Planck continues to map the Universe. By the end of its mission in 2012, it will have completed four all-sky scans. The first full data release of the CMBR is planned for 2012. Before then, the catalogue containing individual objects in our Galaxy and whole distant galaxies will be released in January 2011. "This image is just a glimpse of what Planck will ultimately see," says Jan Tauber, ESA's Planck Project Scientist.
.high res.
This multi-frequency all-sky image of the microwave sky has been composed using data from Planck covering the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 GHz to 857 GHz. The mottled structure of the CMBR, with its tiny temperature fluctuations reflecting the primordial density variations from which today's cosmic structure originated, is clearly visible in the high-latitude regions of the map. The central band is the plane of our Galaxy. A large portion of the image is dominated by the diffuse emission from its gas and dust. The image was derived from data collected by Planck during its first all-sky survey, and comes from about 12 months of observations. To the right of the main image, below the plane of the Galaxy, is a large cloud of gas in our Galaxy. The obvious arc of light surrounding it is Barnard's Loop - the expanding bubble of an exploded star. Planck has seen whole other galaxies. The great spiral galaxy in Andromeda, 2.2 million light-years from Earth, appears as a sliver of microwave light, released by the coldest dust in its giant body. Other, more distant, galaxies with supermassive black holes appear as single points of microwaves dotting the image. Derived from observations taken between August 2009 and June 2010, this image is a low-resolution version of the full data. Credits: ESA/LFI and HFI Consortia
- courtesy of European Space Agency
Planck spacecraft helps explain formation of the Universe.
European Space Agency, 07/05/10
ESA's Planck mission has delivered its first all-sky image. It not only provides new insight into the way stars and galaxies form but also tells us how the Universe itself came to life after the Big Bang. "This is the moment that Planck was conceived for," says ESA Director of Science and Robotic Exploration, David Southwood.
"We're not giving the answer. We are opening the door to an Eldorado where scientists can seek the nuggets that will lead to deeper understanding of how our Universe came to be and how it works now. The image itself and its remarkable quality is a tribute to the engineers who built and have operated Planck. Now the scientific harvest must begin." From the closest portions of the Milky Way to the furthest reaches of space and time, the new all-sky Planck image is an extraordinary treasure chest of new data for astronomers.
.high res.
- The microwave sky as seen by Planck. This multi-frequency all-sky image of the microwave sky has been composed using data from Planck covering the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 GHz to 857 GHz. The mottled structure of the CMBR, with its tiny temperature fluctuations reflecting the primordial density variations from which today's cosmic structure originated, is clearly visible in the high-latitude regions of the map. The central band is the plane of our Galaxy. A large portion of the image is dominated by the diffuse emission from its gas and dust. The image was derived from data collected by Planck during its first all-sky survey and comes from observations taken between August 2009 and June 2010. This image is a low-resolution version of the full data set. To the right of the main image, below the plane of the Galaxy, is a large cloud of gas in our Galaxy. The obvious arc of light surrounding it is Barnard's Loop - the expanding bubble of an exploded star. Planck has seen whole other galaxies. The great spiral galaxy in Andromeda, 2.2 million light-years from Earth, appears as a sliver of microwave light, released by the coldest dust in its giant body. Other, more distant, galaxies with supermassive black holes appear as single points of microwaves dotting the image. Planck was built for ESA by the Prime Contractor Thales Alenia Space (Cannes, France) with contributions from space industry drawn from ESA's 18 Member States. Because of differing accounting procedures in the many bodies contributing, precise costings are impossible to give. However, the overall cost to ESA and its Member State institutions as well as cooperating agencies world- wide (including NASA and Canadian Space Agency) in round figures is 600 million euros. Credits: ESA/LFI and HFI Consortia
The main disc of our Galaxy runs across the centre of the image. Immediately striking are the streamers of cold dust reaching above and below the Milky Way. This galactic web is where new stars are being formed, and Planck has found many locations where individual stars are edging toward birth or just beginning their cycle of development. Less spectacular but perhaps more intriguing is the mottled backdrop at the top and bottom. This is the 'cosmic microwave background radiation' (CMBR). It is the oldest light in the Universe, the remains of the fireball out of which our Universe sprang into existence 13.7 billion years ago.
While the Milky Way shows us what the local Universe looks like now, those microwaves show us what the Universe looked like close to its time of creation, before there were stars or galaxies. Here we come to the heart of Planck's mission to decode what happened in that primordial Universe from the pattern of the mottled backdrop. The microwave pattern is the cosmic blueprint from which today's clusters and superclusters of galaxies were built. The different colours represent minute differences in the temperature and density of matter across the sky. Somehow these small irregularities evolved into denser regions that became the galaxies of today.
The CMBR covers the entire sky but most of it is hidden in this image by the Milky Way's emission, which must be digitally removed from the final data in order to see the microwave background in its entirety. When this work is completed, Planck will show us the most precise picture of the microwave background ever obtained. The big question will be whether the data will reveal the cosmic signature of the primordial period called inflation. This era is postulated to have taken place just after the Big Bang and resulted in the Universe expanding enormously in size over an extremely short period. Planck continues to map the Universe. By the end of its mission in 2012, it will have completed four all-sky scans. The first full data release of the CMBR is planned for 2012. Before then, the catalogue containing individual objects in our Galaxy and whole distant galaxies will be released in January 2011. "This image is just a glimpse of what Planck will ultimately see," says Jan Tauber, ESA's Planck Project Scientist.
.high res.
This multi-frequency all-sky image of the microwave sky has been composed using data from Planck covering the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 GHz to 857 GHz. The mottled structure of the CMBR, with its tiny temperature fluctuations reflecting the primordial density variations from which today's cosmic structure originated, is clearly visible in the high-latitude regions of the map. The central band is the plane of our Galaxy. A large portion of the image is dominated by the diffuse emission from its gas and dust. The image was derived from data collected by Planck during its first all-sky survey, and comes from about 12 months of observations. To the right of the main image, below the plane of the Galaxy, is a large cloud of gas in our Galaxy. The obvious arc of light surrounding it is Barnard's Loop - the expanding bubble of an exploded star. Planck has seen whole other galaxies. The great spiral galaxy in Andromeda, 2.2 million light-years from Earth, appears as a sliver of microwave light, released by the coldest dust in its giant body. Other, more distant, galaxies with supermassive black holes appear as single points of microwaves dotting the image. Derived from observations taken between August 2009 and June 2010, this image is a low-resolution version of the full data. Credits: ESA/LFI and HFI Consortia
- courtesy of European Space Agency
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NASA's Juno spacecraft prepared for mission to Jupiter.
By Space News, 07/12/10
NASA's Juno spacecraft will be forging ahead into a treacherous environment at Jupiter with more radiation than any other place NASA has ever sent a spacecraft, except the Sun. In a specially filtered cleanroom in Denver, where Juno is being assembled, engineers recently added a unique protective shield around its sensitive electronics. New pictures of the assembly were released today.
"Juno is basically an armored tank going to Jupiter," said Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator, based at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "Without its protective shield, or radiation vault, Juno's brain would get fried on the very first pass near Jupiter."
- Once the radiation vault was installed on top of the propulsion module, NASA's Juno spacecraft was lifted onto a large rotation fixture to continue with its assembly process. The fixture allows the spacecraft to be turned for convenient access for integrating and testing instruments. Juno's specially designed radiation vault protects the spacecraft's electronic brain and heart from Jupiter's harsh radiation environment. The vault will dramatically slow down the aging effect radiation has on the electronics for the duration of the mission. The image was taken on June 14, 2010, as Juno was being assembled in a clean room at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is building the spacecraft. The Italian Space Agency, Rome, is contributing an infrared spectrometer instrument and a portion of the radio science experiment. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LMSS.
An invisible force field filled with high-energy particles coming off from Jupiter and its moons surrounds the largest planet in our solar system. This magnetic force field, similar to a less powerful one around Earth, shields Jupiter from charged particles flying off the Sun. The electrons, protons and ions around Jupiter are energized by the planet's super-fast rotation, sped up to nearly the speed of light. Jupiter's radiation belts are shaped like a huge doughnut around the planet's equatorial region and extend out past the moon Europa, about 650,000 kilometers (400,000 miles) out from the top of Jupiter's clouds. "For the 15 months Juno orbits Jupiter, the spacecraft will have to withstand the equivalent of more than 100 million dental X-rays," said Bill McAlpine, Juno's radiation control manager, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "In the same way human beings need to protect their organs during an X-ray exam, we have to protect Juno's brain and heart."
The strategy? Give Juno a kind of six-sided lead apron on steroids.
With guidance from JPL and the principal investigator, engineers at Lockheed Martin Space Systems designed and built a special radiation vault made of titanium for a centralized electronics hub. While other materials exist that make good radiation blockers, engineers chose titanium because lead is too soft to withstand the vibrations of launch, and some other materials were too difficult to work with. Each titanium wall measures nearly a square meter (nearly 9 square feet) in area, about 1 centimeter (a third of an inch) in thickness, and 18 kilograms (40 pounds) in mass. This titanium box - about the size of an SUV's trunk - encloses Juno's command and data handling box (the spacecraft's brain), power and data distribution unit (its heart) and about 20 other electronic assemblies. The whole vault weighs about 200 kilograms (500 pounds). The vault is not designed to completely prevent every Jovian electron, ion or proton from hitting the system, but it will dramatically slow down the aging effect radiation has on electronics for the duration of the mission. "The centralized radiation vault is the first of its kind," Bolton said. "We basically designed it from the ground up."
When NASA's Galileo spacecraft visited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, its electronics were shielded by special components designed to be resistant to radiation. Galileo also didn't need to survive the harshest radiation regions, where Juno will operate. But Juno isn't relying solely on the radiation vault. Scientists designed a path that takes Juno around Jupiter's poles, spending as little time as possible in the sizzling radiation belts around Jupiter's equator. Engineers also used designs for electronics already approved for the Martian radiation environment, which is harsher than Earth's, though not as harsh as Jupiter's. Parts of the electronics were made from tantalum, or tungsten, another radiation-resistant metal. Some assemblies also have their own mini-vaults for protection.
Packing the assemblies next to each other allows them to shield their neighbors. In addition, engineers wrapped copper and stainless steel braids like chain mail around wires connecting the electronics to other parts of the spacecraft. JPL tested pieces of the vault in a radiation environment similar to Jupiter's to make sure the design will be able to handle the stress of space flight and the Jupiter environment, McAlpine said. In a special lead-lined testing tub there, they battered pieces of the spacecraft with gamma rays from radioactive cobalt pellets and analyzed the results for Juno's expedition.
The vault was lifted onto Juno's propulsion module on May 19 at Lockheed Martin's high-bay cleanroom. It will undergo further testing once the whole spacecraft is put together. The assembly and testing process, which also includes installing solar panels for the first-ever solar-powered mission to Jupiter, is expected to last through next spring. Juno is expected to launch in August 2011. "The Juno assembly is proceeding well," said Tim Gasparrini, Lockheed Martin program manager. "We have a number of the flight and test unit spacecraft avionics components installed into the radiation vault for system testing and we have also just installed the first instrument, the microwave radiometer." JPL manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute at San Antonio, Texas. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., is building the spacecraft. The Italian Space Agency in Rome is contributing an infrared spectrometer instrument and a portion of the radio science experiment.
- courtesy of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA's Juno spacecraft prepared for mission to Jupiter.
By Space News, 07/12/10
NASA's Juno spacecraft will be forging ahead into a treacherous environment at Jupiter with more radiation than any other place NASA has ever sent a spacecraft, except the Sun. In a specially filtered cleanroom in Denver, where Juno is being assembled, engineers recently added a unique protective shield around its sensitive electronics. New pictures of the assembly were released today.
"Juno is basically an armored tank going to Jupiter," said Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator, based at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "Without its protective shield, or radiation vault, Juno's brain would get fried on the very first pass near Jupiter."
- Once the radiation vault was installed on top of the propulsion module, NASA's Juno spacecraft was lifted onto a large rotation fixture to continue with its assembly process. The fixture allows the spacecraft to be turned for convenient access for integrating and testing instruments. Juno's specially designed radiation vault protects the spacecraft's electronic brain and heart from Jupiter's harsh radiation environment. The vault will dramatically slow down the aging effect radiation has on the electronics for the duration of the mission. The image was taken on June 14, 2010, as Juno was being assembled in a clean room at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is building the spacecraft. The Italian Space Agency, Rome, is contributing an infrared spectrometer instrument and a portion of the radio science experiment. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LMSS.
An invisible force field filled with high-energy particles coming off from Jupiter and its moons surrounds the largest planet in our solar system. This magnetic force field, similar to a less powerful one around Earth, shields Jupiter from charged particles flying off the Sun. The electrons, protons and ions around Jupiter are energized by the planet's super-fast rotation, sped up to nearly the speed of light. Jupiter's radiation belts are shaped like a huge doughnut around the planet's equatorial region and extend out past the moon Europa, about 650,000 kilometers (400,000 miles) out from the top of Jupiter's clouds. "For the 15 months Juno orbits Jupiter, the spacecraft will have to withstand the equivalent of more than 100 million dental X-rays," said Bill McAlpine, Juno's radiation control manager, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "In the same way human beings need to protect their organs during an X-ray exam, we have to protect Juno's brain and heart."
The strategy? Give Juno a kind of six-sided lead apron on steroids.
With guidance from JPL and the principal investigator, engineers at Lockheed Martin Space Systems designed and built a special radiation vault made of titanium for a centralized electronics hub. While other materials exist that make good radiation blockers, engineers chose titanium because lead is too soft to withstand the vibrations of launch, and some other materials were too difficult to work with. Each titanium wall measures nearly a square meter (nearly 9 square feet) in area, about 1 centimeter (a third of an inch) in thickness, and 18 kilograms (40 pounds) in mass. This titanium box - about the size of an SUV's trunk - encloses Juno's command and data handling box (the spacecraft's brain), power and data distribution unit (its heart) and about 20 other electronic assemblies. The whole vault weighs about 200 kilograms (500 pounds). The vault is not designed to completely prevent every Jovian electron, ion or proton from hitting the system, but it will dramatically slow down the aging effect radiation has on electronics for the duration of the mission. "The centralized radiation vault is the first of its kind," Bolton said. "We basically designed it from the ground up."
When NASA's Galileo spacecraft visited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, its electronics were shielded by special components designed to be resistant to radiation. Galileo also didn't need to survive the harshest radiation regions, where Juno will operate. But Juno isn't relying solely on the radiation vault. Scientists designed a path that takes Juno around Jupiter's poles, spending as little time as possible in the sizzling radiation belts around Jupiter's equator. Engineers also used designs for electronics already approved for the Martian radiation environment, which is harsher than Earth's, though not as harsh as Jupiter's. Parts of the electronics were made from tantalum, or tungsten, another radiation-resistant metal. Some assemblies also have their own mini-vaults for protection.
Packing the assemblies next to each other allows them to shield their neighbors. In addition, engineers wrapped copper and stainless steel braids like chain mail around wires connecting the electronics to other parts of the spacecraft. JPL tested pieces of the vault in a radiation environment similar to Jupiter's to make sure the design will be able to handle the stress of space flight and the Jupiter environment, McAlpine said. In a special lead-lined testing tub there, they battered pieces of the spacecraft with gamma rays from radioactive cobalt pellets and analyzed the results for Juno's expedition.
The vault was lifted onto Juno's propulsion module on May 19 at Lockheed Martin's high-bay cleanroom. It will undergo further testing once the whole spacecraft is put together. The assembly and testing process, which also includes installing solar panels for the first-ever solar-powered mission to Jupiter, is expected to last through next spring. Juno is expected to launch in August 2011. "The Juno assembly is proceeding well," said Tim Gasparrini, Lockheed Martin program manager. "We have a number of the flight and test unit spacecraft avionics components installed into the radiation vault for system testing and we have also just installed the first instrument, the microwave radiometer." JPL manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute at San Antonio, Texas. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., is building the spacecraft. The Italian Space Agency in Rome is contributing an infrared spectrometer instrument and a portion of the radio science experiment.
- courtesy of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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BBC
Sun's 'quiet period' explained
By Howard Falcon-Lang, 13 August 2010
During a solar minimum the Sun produces fewer sunspots and flares
Solar physicists may have discovered why the Sun recently experienced a prolonged period of weak activity. The most recent so-called "solar minimum" occurred in December 2008. Its drawn-out nature extended the total length of the last solar cycle - the repeating cycle of the Sun's activity - to 12.6 years, making it the longest in almost 200 years. During a solar minimum the Sun is less active, producing fewer sunspots and flares. The new research suggests that the longer-than-expected period of weak activity may have been linked to changes in the way a hot soup of charged particles called plasma circulated in the Sun.
The study, conducted by Dr Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado and her US colleagues, is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The Sun's activity strengthens and weakens on a cycle that typically lasts 10.7 years. Since accurate records began in 1755, there have been 24 such solar cycles. The 23rd cycle, which ended in December 2008, was both longer than average and had the smallest number of sunspots for a century. Sunspots are areas of intense magnetic activity that are visible as dark spots on the star's surface.
Currents of fire
The Sun's conveyor transports plasma across its surface to the pole, where it sinks before rising at the equator
The new research suggests that one reason for the prolonged period of weak activity could be changes in the Sun's "conveyor belt". Similar to the Earth's ocean currents, the Sun's conveyor transports plasma across its surface to the pole. Here, the plasma sinks into the heart of the Sun before rising again at the equator. During the 23rd cycle, these currents of fire extended all the way to the poles, while in earlier cycles they only extended about two thirds of the way.
Dr Roger Ulrich of the University of California, Los Angeles, a co-author of the study, said the findings highlighted the importance of our monitoring of the Sun. The research team used sophisticated computer simulations to show how changes in the conveyor might have affected cycle duration. They found that the increased length of the conveyor and its slower rate of return flow explained the prolonged 23rd cycle.
A photo montage captured during a solar eclipse over the Marshall Islands in July 2009. The beautiful image shows the solar corona that makes up the sun's atmosphere in amazing detail as the sun passes behind the moon... Picture: Miloslav Druckmuller / SWNS > Photos
However, Dr David Hathaway, a solar physicist from Nasa's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, who was not involved in the latest study, argued that it was the speed and not the extent of the conveyor that was of real importance. The conveyor has been running at record high-speeds for over five years. Dr Hathaway said: "I believe this could explain the unusually deep solar minimum."
Sun's 'quiet period' explained
By Howard Falcon-Lang, 13 August 2010
During a solar minimum the Sun produces fewer sunspots and flares
Solar physicists may have discovered why the Sun recently experienced a prolonged period of weak activity. The most recent so-called "solar minimum" occurred in December 2008. Its drawn-out nature extended the total length of the last solar cycle - the repeating cycle of the Sun's activity - to 12.6 years, making it the longest in almost 200 years. During a solar minimum the Sun is less active, producing fewer sunspots and flares. The new research suggests that the longer-than-expected period of weak activity may have been linked to changes in the way a hot soup of charged particles called plasma circulated in the Sun.
The study, conducted by Dr Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado and her US colleagues, is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The Sun's activity strengthens and weakens on a cycle that typically lasts 10.7 years. Since accurate records began in 1755, there have been 24 such solar cycles. The 23rd cycle, which ended in December 2008, was both longer than average and had the smallest number of sunspots for a century. Sunspots are areas of intense magnetic activity that are visible as dark spots on the star's surface.
Currents of fire
The Sun's conveyor transports plasma across its surface to the pole, where it sinks before rising at the equator
The new research suggests that one reason for the prolonged period of weak activity could be changes in the Sun's "conveyor belt". Similar to the Earth's ocean currents, the Sun's conveyor transports plasma across its surface to the pole. Here, the plasma sinks into the heart of the Sun before rising again at the equator. During the 23rd cycle, these currents of fire extended all the way to the poles, while in earlier cycles they only extended about two thirds of the way.
Dr Roger Ulrich of the University of California, Los Angeles, a co-author of the study, said the findings highlighted the importance of our monitoring of the Sun. The research team used sophisticated computer simulations to show how changes in the conveyor might have affected cycle duration. They found that the increased length of the conveyor and its slower rate of return flow explained the prolonged 23rd cycle.
A photo montage captured during a solar eclipse over the Marshall Islands in July 2009. The beautiful image shows the solar corona that makes up the sun's atmosphere in amazing detail as the sun passes behind the moon... Picture: Miloslav Druckmuller / SWNS > Photos
However, Dr David Hathaway, a solar physicist from Nasa's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, who was not involved in the latest study, argued that it was the speed and not the extent of the conveyor that was of real importance. The conveyor has been running at record high-speeds for over five years. Dr Hathaway said: "I believe this could explain the unusually deep solar minimum."
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Composite image of the sun from the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) satellite. Images were taken at three different wavelengths, colour-coded and combined. Picture: NASA-ESA- digital version copyri/Science Faction/Corbis
This photo shows the sun's coronal holes in an X-ray image. The outer solar atmosphere, the corona, is structured by strong magnetic fields, which when closed can cause the atmosphere to suddenly and violently release bubbles or tongues of gas and magnetic fields called coronal mass ejections which streak out through the interplanetary medium. Picture: NASA / REUTERS / Corbis
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Solar activity is shown in an image made by NASA's SOHO Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) instrument. Picture: NASA / Corbis
A NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory image of the Sun shows a giant magnetic loop (lower left) filled with glowing, hot gas blasting away from the Sun. Picture: NASA / epa / Corbis
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- This NASA image shows the Aurora Australis observed from the International Space Station on May 29, 2010.This photo was taken during a geomagnetic storm that was most likely caused by a coronal mass ejection from the Sun on May 24, 2010. The ISS was located over the Southern Indian Ocean at an altitude of 350 kilometres (220 miles), with the astronaut observer most likely looking towards Antarctica (not visible) and the South Pole. The aurora has a sinuous ribbon shape that separates into discrete spots near the lower right corner of the image. While the dominant colouration of the aurora is green, there are faint suggestions of red left of image centre. Dense cloud cover is dimly visible below the aurora. The curvature of the Earth's horizon is clearly visible, as is the faint blue line of the upper atmosphere directly above it. Several stars appear as bright pinpoints against the blackness of space at image top right. Picture: NASA / AFP
The Aurora borealis pictured over Kvaloeya island, Tromsoe, Norway. Picture: Hinrich Bosemann/dpa/Corbis
BBC: Perseid meteor shower reaches second day of its peak
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.Video: Northern lightsA powerful outburst of auroras over the open sea at Eggum on the Lofoten islands in Norway. Picture by Bjorn Jorgensen.
Two observers enjoy a sky illuminated by vibrant colour during magnetic solar storms in Itzehoe, Germany. Picture: Jost Jahn/epa/Corbis
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Space.gs
Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, mission commander, walks toward the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) during extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site of NASA's sixth and final Apollo lunar landing mission. The photograph was taken by astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot. While astronauts Cernan and Schmitt descended in the Lunar Module (LM) "Challenger" to explore the Taurus-Littrow region of the moon, astronaut Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) "America" in lunar orbit. Credit: NASA
> 07/01/10: Scientists detect ancient carbon in Apollo 17 Moon rock.
.> Video: Astronaut Caldwell Dyson Sends Sign Language Message From Space Station
In the almost six-minute video, the American astronaut spoke directly to the deaf community about
what she does on the station and how she became interested in ASL.
Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, mission commander, walks toward the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) during extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site of NASA's sixth and final Apollo lunar landing mission. The photograph was taken by astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot. While astronauts Cernan and Schmitt descended in the Lunar Module (LM) "Challenger" to explore the Taurus-Littrow region of the moon, astronaut Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) "America" in lunar orbit. Credit: NASA
> 07/01/10: Scientists detect ancient carbon in Apollo 17 Moon rock.
.> Video: Astronaut Caldwell Dyson Sends Sign Language Message From Space StationIn the almost six-minute video, the American astronaut spoke directly to the deaf community about
what she does on the station and how she became interested in ASL.
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Space.gs
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Cassini images Mimas above the ringplane of Saturn.
By Space.gs, 07/01/10
A kingly crescent Saturn rests on the right of this Cassini spacecraft portrait while the moon
Mimas appears above the rings on the left.
Mimas looks like just a speck of light here but is actually 396 kilometers, or 246 miles, across.
This view looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from just above the ringplane.
Mimas was brightened by a factor of 1.4 relative to Saturn and the rings.
The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Nov. 28, 2009 using a
spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The
view was obtained at a distance of approximately 2.5 million kilometers (1.6 million miles) from
Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 103 degrees. Image scale is 144
kilometers (89 miles) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency
and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed,
developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science
Institute in Boulder, Colo.
- courtesy of NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Cassini images Mimas above the ringplane of Saturn.
By Space.gs, 07/01/10
A kingly crescent Saturn rests on the right of this Cassini spacecraft portrait while the moon
Mimas appears above the rings on the left.
Mimas looks like just a speck of light here but is actually 396 kilometers, or 246 miles, across.
This view looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from just above the ringplane.
Mimas was brightened by a factor of 1.4 relative to Saturn and the rings.
The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Nov. 28, 2009 using a
spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The
view was obtained at a distance of approximately 2.5 million kilometers (1.6 million miles) from
Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 103 degrees. Image scale is 144
kilometers (89 miles) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency
and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed,
developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science
Institute in Boulder, Colo.
- courtesy of NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Re: Space and Space Travel News
Spaceweather.com
There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA
.high res.
It was a busy weekend on the sun. Explosions propelled three bright coronal mass ejections
(CMEs) into space, shown here in a sequence of coronagraphs from the Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory:
None of the clouds is heading directly toward Earth. CME #1 could deliver a glancing blow to
Earth's magnetic field on Aug. 17th. NOAA forecasters estimate a 35% chance of high-latitude
geomagnetic activity when the cloud arrives. CMEs #2 and #3, on the other hand, are
expected to miss entirely.
CME #1 was the end result of a complex eruption involving two sunspot groups (1093 and
1099), a C4-class solar flare, and a lot of magnetic reconnection (Science.nasa.gov/science-news).
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the event in detail. Must-see movies include a
close-up and the big picture.
IONOSPHERIC DISTURBANCE: The C4-class solar flare of Aug. 14th bathed Earth's upper
atmosphere in X-rays and caused a wave of ionization to sweep over Europe. This improved
the propagation of low-frequency radio signals which use the ionosphere as a reflector to skip
over the horizon. A SID monitor operated by Jan Karlovsky of Hlohovec, Slovakia, recorded the effect:
"SID" stands for Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance, and a "SID monitor" is a radio receiver that
monitors ~20 kHz signals from distant transmitters. "My system easily detected the effects of
the solar flare," says Karlovsky. "I monitor two stations: DHO38 in Germany (23.4 kHz) and GQD
in Great Britian (22.1 kHz). The German signal was most strongly boosted."
With solar activity on the rise, sudden ionospheric disturbances will become more common.
Interested? Stanford University tells you how to build your own SID monitor.
. www.facebook.com/spaceastronautics > http://science.nasa.gov
There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA
.high res.
It was a busy weekend on the sun. Explosions propelled three bright coronal mass ejections
(CMEs) into space, shown here in a sequence of coronagraphs from the Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory:
None of the clouds is heading directly toward Earth. CME #1 could deliver a glancing blow to
Earth's magnetic field on Aug. 17th. NOAA forecasters estimate a 35% chance of high-latitude
geomagnetic activity when the cloud arrives. CMEs #2 and #3, on the other hand, are
expected to miss entirely.
CME #1 was the end result of a complex eruption involving two sunspot groups (1093 and
1099), a C4-class solar flare, and a lot of magnetic reconnection (Science.nasa.gov/science-news).
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the event in detail. Must-see movies include a
close-up and the big picture.
IONOSPHERIC DISTURBANCE: The C4-class solar flare of Aug. 14th bathed Earth's upper
atmosphere in X-rays and caused a wave of ionization to sweep over Europe. This improved
the propagation of low-frequency radio signals which use the ionosphere as a reflector to skip
over the horizon. A SID monitor operated by Jan Karlovsky of Hlohovec, Slovakia, recorded the effect:
"SID" stands for Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance, and a "SID monitor" is a radio receiver that
monitors ~20 kHz signals from distant transmitters. "My system easily detected the effects of
the solar flare," says Karlovsky. "I monitor two stations: DHO38 in Germany (23.4 kHz) and GQD
in Great Britian (22.1 kHz). The German signal was most strongly boosted."
With solar activity on the rise, sudden ionospheric disturbances will become more common.
Interested? Stanford University tells you how to build your own SID monitor.
. www.facebook.com/spaceastronautics > http://science.nasa.gov