Latest National Solar Observatory Stories
Hydrogen molecules may act as a kind of energy sink that strengthens the magnetic grip that causes sunspots, according to scientists from Hawaii and New Mexico using a new infrared instrument on an old telescope. "We think that molecular hydrogen plays an important role in the formation and evolution of sunspots," said Dr. Sarah Jaeggli, a recent University of Hawaii at Manoa graduate whose doctoral research formed a key element of the new findings. She conducted the research with Drs....
Using data collected by NASA's STEREO spacecraft, researchers at Southwest Research Institute and the National Solar Observatory have developed the first detailed images of solar wind structures as plasma and other particles from a coronal mass ejection (CME) traveled 93 million miles and impacted Earth.The images from a December 2008 CME event reveal an array of dynamic interactions as the solar wind, traveling at speeds up to a million miles per hour, shifts and changes on its three-day...
To prevent solar damage to communication, navigation and other high tech systems, scientists are determining the temperatures, composition and movement of materials inside the sunSunspots are huge, dark, irregularly shaped--and yet, temporary--areas of intense magnetism on the sun that expand and contract as they move."The diameters of sunspots are frequently on the order of 50,000 miles," said Frank Hill of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Solar Observatory....
The sun is in the pits of the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century. Weeks and sometimes whole months go by without even a single tiny sunspot. The quiet has dragged out for more than two years, prompting some observers to wonder, are sunspots disappearing?"Personally, I'm betting that sunspots are coming back," says researcher Matt Penn of the National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Tucson, Arizona. But, he allows, "there is some evidence that they won't."Penn's colleague...
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- The National Science Foundation agreed to halt construction of a $13 million mountainside telescope complex after an American Indian tribe filed a federal lawsuit claiming the site is sacred. The foundation said it will work with the Tohono O'odham Nation to assess the environmental and cultural value of the Kitt Peak area before resuming work on what the lead scientist said would be the most advanced system of its kind in the northern hemisphere. "We are being very...
WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) -- The summit of a Maui volcano whose Hawaiian name means "House of the Sun" has been recommended as the site for one of the world's biggest and most advanced solar telescopes. The board of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy recommended Haleakala ahead of 70 other proposed sites around the world to be the home of the $161 million telescope that measure 4 meters in diameter. The recommendation goes to the National Science Foundation for...
Latest National Solar Observatory Reference Libraries
National Solar Observatory -- The National Solar Observatory (NSO) has its primary headquarters in Tucson. NSO telescopes on Kitt Peak include the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope Facility containing the world's three largest solar telescopes (1.6-meter main and two 0.9-meter auxiliaries), along with the Vacuum Telescope and the Razdow small solar patrol telescope. The National Solar Observatory also operates telescopes at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico, that include the Vacuum Tower...
Kitt Peak Observatory -- astronomical observatory located southwest of Tucson, Ariz.; it was founded in 1958 under contract with the National Science Foundation and is administered by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy. Its principal instrument is the Mayall 158-in. (4-m) reflector. The observatory's equipment also includes 84-in. (2.1 m), 50-in. (1.3-m), 36-in. (0.9-m), and 16-in. (0.4-m) reflecting telescopes as well as a planned 3.5-m telescope. Used for wide...
