Latest Space science Stories

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spacecraft is on track for a launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on June 26. IRIS will fill a crucial gap in the ability of scientists to advance Sun-Earth connection studies by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through a dynamic interface region - the chromosphere and transition region - between the solar surface and the solar corona. "The entire IRIS team is...

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's next scientific satellite, which is scheduled for launch June 26, will provide the most detailed look ever at the sun's lower atmosphere or interface region. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy, and heats up as it travels through this largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere. The...

WASHINGTON, May 31, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will deliver the keynote address at the annual Space Weather Enterprise Forum Tuesday, June 4, at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Auditorium and Science Center, located at 1301 East-West Highway in Silver Spring, Md. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Media representatives are invited to attend the forum, which will focus on the impact of space weather...

Providing access to an advanced space telescope for students, scientists and a new generation of citizen explorers BELLEVUE, Wash., May 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Planetary Resources, Inc., the asteroid mining company, has launched a campaign for the world's first crowdfunded space telescope to provide unprecedented public access to space and place the most advanced exploration technology into the hands of students, scientists and a new generation of citizen explorers. Planetary...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Since the 18th Century, scientists have been aware that the Sun oscillates between periods of high and low solar activity in an 11-year cycle. So far, though, they have been unable to fully explain how this cycle is generated. Understanding the Sun’s magnetic activity has become increasingly important as we rely more on our electronic devices. Changes in the magnetic field are responsible for “space weather” phenomena,...

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online As the peak year of the solar maximum picks up in intensity, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) observed yet another solar flare and two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) mid-week. On Wednesday May 22 the sun emitted an M7 solar flare, which peaked at about 9:38 a.m. EDT. While it was not immediately clear if the M-class flare also produced a CME, NASA confirmed later that the flare was associated with a CME. While this CME was...

[WATCH VIDEO: Coronal Mass Ejection On May 17, 2013] Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online On May 17, the sun unleashed an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME) at 5:24 a.m. EDT sending billions of tons of solar particles into space. The matter from this CME will likely reach Earth in one to three days and potentially affect electronic systems in satellites and possibly the International Space Station (ISS). NASA research models based on observations from...

The Planetary Society NASA's asteroid mission could represent a new milestone in humanity's presence in and influence on the Solar System. For the first time in history, we would capture an entire object in orbit around the Sun and move it to a place of our choosing. We would evolve from mere observers of the motions of the heavens to participants in determining them. The Planetary Society conditionally supports NASA's plan to capture a small asteroid and place it in lunar orbit. In the...

NASA Solar activity continued on May 14, 2013, as the sun emitted a fourth X-class flare from its upper left limb, peaking at 9:48 p.m. EDT. This flare is classified as an X1.2 flare and it is the 18th X-class flare of the current solar cycle. The flare caused a radio blackout – categorized as an R3, or strong, on NOAA’s space weather scales from R1 to R5 -- which has since subsided. The flare was also associated with a non-Earth-directed CME. CMEs and flares are separate but...

NASA Given a legitimate need to protect Earth from the most intense forms of space weather -- great bursts of electromagnetic energy and particles that can sometimes stream from the sun -- some people worry that a gigantic "killer solar flare" could hurl enough energy to destroy Earth, but this is not actually possible. Solar activity is indeed currently ramping up toward what is known as solar maximum, something that occurs approximately every 11 years. However, this same solar cycle...