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Experts are considering ploughing sulphate aerosols into the upper atmosphere which would cause some of the suns rays to be reflected back out into space. This could potentially cool the Earth down and help counter the effects of climate change, scientists say. The move would also help reduce coral bleaching and help calm powerful storms. James Crabbe, from the University of Bedfordshire, is leading the study and his initial results suggest the plan could help cool the planet. He told New Scientist: “Corals are the rainforests of the sea, and if you lose them the impacts on ecosystems and people...

The spacecraft will have to survive temperatures as high as 2,500 Fahrenheit (1,371 Celsius) NASA Scientists have unveiled the Parker Solar Probe at a laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, on Monday (September 25). This latest spacecraft is being prepared to make an unprecedented plunge into the sun's atmosphere. "We're going to go into the corona, which is the home to many mysteries that have baffled scientists for decades and decades," explained project scientist Nicky Fox at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. The spacecraft will have to survive temperatures as high as 2,500 Fahrenheit (1,371 Celsius), impacts by supersonic particles...

A SOLAR STORM IS COMING: On Sept. 4th at approximately 2030 UT, active sunspot AR2673 hurled a CME toward Earth: movie. NOAA analysts are still modeling the cloud's trajectory. At first glance, the CME appears likely to reach our planet on Sept. 6th with the possibility of moderately strong (G2-class) geomagnetic storms when it arrives. Stay tuned for an updated forecast. What a difference a day can make. On Saturday, Sept. 2nd, sunspot AR2673 was an unremarkable speck largely ignored by forecasters. On Sunday, Sept. 3rd, it underwent a furious transformation. AR2673 expanded more than 10-fold in a single day,...

As the Aug. 21 solar eclipse nears, communities within the path of totality are preparing for masses of people traveling in search of the optimal viewing experience. The expected influx has placed an unprecedented task in front of cities and towns that are unaccustomed to large tourist populations. Places like Hopkinsville, Kentucky, are working to transform their communities to prepare for the event. “This is unlike anything this community has ever seen or will probably ever see again,” Hopkinsville Solar Eclipse Marketing and Events Consultant Brooke Jung said. “We’ve got people coming from 42 different states and 18 different countries.”...

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Astronomers want to harness [the Sun's] spacetime-warping gravity as a lens to image the surface of exoplanets in astonishing detail The bluish ring is a distant galaxy whose image has been magnified and warped by the gravity of a reddish galaxy in the foreground Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Wikimedia Within just a few years, astronomers may at last find a planet that shows signs of life as we know it, in the form of atmospheric gases that betray signs of biological activity. This would be a transformational event for our civilization. But, what would we do next? How could we...

On Aug. 21, 2017, American skywatchers will be treated to a rare and spectacular celestial show — the first total solar eclipse visible from the continental United States in nearly four decades. Next year's "Great American Total Solar Eclipse" will darken skies all the way from Oregon to South Carolina, along a stretch of land about 70 miles (113 kilometers) wide. People who descend upon this "path of totality" for the big event are in for an unforgettable experience, said eclipse expert Jay Pasachoff, an astronomer at Williams College in Massachusetts. "It's a tremendous opportunity," Pasachoff told Space.com. "It's a...

A large, canyon-shaped hole has opened in the sun's atmosphere, and it is spewing a stream of solar wind directly toward Earth. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed the structure, which stretches more than halfway across the face of the sun:(see pic below) This is a "coronal hole" (CH)--a region where the sun's magnetic field opens up and allows solar wind to escape. NASA's STEREO spacecraft recently sampled the stream flowing from this hole and the velocity was unusually high: nearly 750 km/s. Such a fast-moving stream will likely spark Arctic auroras when it arrives on Feb. 1st.

A LARGE HOLE IN THE SUN'S ATMOSPHERE Stretching more than halfway across the face of the sun is turning toward Earth. There is a "coronal hole"--a region in the sun's atmosphere where the magnetic field has opened up, allowing solar wind to escape. A stream of solar wind flowing from this coronal hole could reach Earth as early as Jan. 4th (Jan. 5th is more likely), sparking G1-class geomagnetic storms. Polar sky watchers should be alert for auroras later this week.

Sunbeams—what a drag. That’s the conclusion of physicists trying to solve a longstanding mystery: why the sun’s surface rotates more slowly than its inner core. The team argues that energy radiating outward from the sun pushes back slightly as it is expelled, providing just enough resistance to put on the brakes. The hypothesis is supported by a new observation: that the thin “skin” of the sun rotates more slowly than layers just beneath. “I really can’t believe nobody has thought of this,” says Hugh Hudson, a solar physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the...

A car collision early Saturday in Santa Clara sent a powerful stream of water shooting several feet into the air. The crash occurred shortly after 1 a.m. when a driver plowed into a fire hydrant before eventually landing the vehicle inside Stuft Pizza located near the intersection of Homestead and Woodhams Roads, officials said. Firefighters spent roughly 30 minutes shutting off the water, officials said. The driver of the vehicle fled the scene on foot before being apprehended near his home several blocks away, officials said. No one was injured and the Santa Clara Police Department is currently investigating the...

How Can We Save The Sun? Published: 23 Sep , 2016 by Fraser Cain Video Remember the movie Sunshine, where astronomers learn that the Sun is dying? So a plucky team of astronauts take a nuclear bomb to the Sun, and try to jump-start it with a massive explosion. Yeah, there’s so much wrong in that movie that I don’t know where to start. So I just won’t.Seriously, a nuclear bomb to cure a dying Sun?Here’s the thing, the Sun is actually dying. It’s just that it’s going to take about another 5 billion years to run of fuel in...

A Desperate Attempt to Solve an Intractable Problem Jul. 28, 2016 One of the many problems associated with an ancient earth is the young, faint sun. In a nutshell, we think we understand the way a star produces energy, and based on this understanding, a star starts off dim and grows brighter over time. Based on what we know, then, the sun should have been about 25% dimmer 3.8 billion years ago, when most evolutionists think life first emerged on earth. However, if the sun really were 25% dimmer back then, the earth would be far too frigid to support...

Quasar Found 420 Trillion Times Brighter Than Our SunAn international team of astronomers have discovered a huge quasar 420 trillion times brighter than our sun around 12.8 billion light years away from Earth, placing its formation around 875 million years after the big bang. The ancient object is powered by a massive black hole and contains a staggering 12 billion solar masses, surprising scientists who had not expected such a huge bright quasar so close to the dawn of time. The quasar was found using telescopes located in China, Hawaii, Arizona, and Chile, and as Xue-Bing Wu, of Peking...

The sun has been making some anxious faces lately — but you'd be worried, too, if a huge hole had just opened up on your head. The sun's apparent nervousness crops up in photos captured over the past few days by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO); you can see the gorgeous images compiled into a video here. The sun's "eyes" are actually active regions, which serve as launch pads for solar flares and the eruptions of superheated solar plasma known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). And the anxious, crinkly mouth is a coronal hole, a relatively cool and dark region...

Astonishing images from NASA reveal no visible sunspots are currently visible on its surface. This has caused the star to go into "cue call" mode having entered its quietest period for more than a century, Vencore Weather claims. Decreased activity is not unusual as solar activity changes the volatile star's surface in 11-year cycles, astronomers say. But researchers are warning this current cycle could have a devastating impact on Earth's atmosphere, possibly ushering in a second ice age, similar to the one which began in 1645. Paul Dorian of Vencore Weather says the blank Sun is a sign that the...

We like to think of our planet as perfect for life, having met all the conditions we know of for life to exist, flourish and thrive for billions of years. You see, back when the Solar System was younger, the Sun was not just younger, but also cooler. The way a star gets its energy is from nuclear fusion in its core: burning hydrogen into helium in our Sun’s case. Put this all together, and we get an inescapable conclusion: as a star ages and burns through more and more of its fuel, it gives off ever increasing amounts of...

NASA has revealed that a massive hole, measuring more than ten per cent of the Sun's surface area, has opened up on our star. ... NASA says the huge hole is actually not of great concern, but it remains unclear why the coronal holes actually form. ..

Although both Mercury and Venus circle between the Earth and the sun on every orbit (with Mercury passing between the two bodies three times each Earth year), the three planets don't sit in a flat orbit compared to one another. Only when Earth and a passing planet line up is the interior world visible to skywatchers as it crosses the sun. Mercury's transits currently take place in either early May or November. It is during those months that Earth's orbital plane is intersected by Mercury's, according to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. However, the orientation of the two orbital planes...

The New York Sun announced it is endorsing Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)97% in the Republican primary Tuesday. According to the Sun: It hasn’t been our normal practice to endorse in the primaries, but this year the vote, set for Tuesday, will take on outsized importance as we career toward a contested convention. The junior senator from Texas has emerged from a crowded field by dint of his fidelity to principles — limited, constitutional government, sound money, free markets, and a strong foreign policy — that couldn’t be at higher premium. They are the true New York Values. Regardless of the...