Browse Archive

  • Tracer release and camera observation locations for ATREX mission.

    NASA Jet Stream Study Will Light up The Night Sky

    NASA will launch five sounding rockets in approx. five minutes to study high-altitude winds and their connection to the electrical current patterns around Earth.

  • When discontinuities in the solar wind remain in contact with a planet's bow shock, they can collect a pool of hot particles that becomes a hot flow anomaly (HFA).

    Space Weather: Explosions on Venus

    A recent study has found clear evidence on Venus for a type of space weather outburst quite common at Earth, called a hot flow anomaly (HFA). These HFA surges can cause the solar wind to reverse its flow and flood backward.

  • The MSL Curiosity rover in the assembly facility.

    Curiosity, The Stunt Double

    Curiosity, the mini-Cooper-sized rover, is playing the role of stunt double for NASA astronauts, as it monitors radiation levels on its journey to Mars.

  • Artist's conception of one of the five THEMIS spacecraft in orbit around Earth.

    THEMIS: Watching Aurora and Space Weather

    Since 2007, THEMIS has mapped how explosive auroras erupt and solar wind transfers energy to the magnetosphere.

  • An artist's representation of RHESSI spacecraft in orbit around Earth.

    RHESSI Celebrates 10 Years and 40,000 X-Ray Flares

    Ten years since its launch, RHESSI has observed more than 40,000 X-ray flares, helped craft a model of how solar eruptions form, and fueled additional serendipitous science papers on such things as the shape of the sun.

  • 0xygen to Neon comparison graphs superimposed on the latest IBEX full sky map.

    The Interstellar Material Beyond our Solar System

    It's an alien environment out there: the material in the galactic wind doesn't look like the same stuff our solar system is made of.

  • Animation of Earth's radiation belts following the Halloween Storm of 2003 shows them swelling and shrinking over time.

    THEMIS Sees a Great Electron Escape

    Filled with electrons and charged particles, the radiation belts regularly swell and shrink, but no one is quite sure how. A new study sheds light on how those radiation particles escape.

  • Yihua Zheng and Antti Pulkkinen monitor space weather for Goddard's Space Weather Center.

    Space Weather Center Adding 'Ensemble Forecasting' Capability

    The sun is beginning to stir. By the time it's fully awake in about 20 months, the Goddard team charged with tracking its moods will have deployed a greatly enhanced forecasting capability.

  • Fast-moving protons from a solar energetic particle event cause interference that looks like snow in this image from SOHO.

    Classifying Solar Eruptions

    NOAA has devised categories for solar flares and storms. The biggest flares are known as 'X-class flares' based on a classification system that divides solar flares according to their strength.

  • SOHO coronographic image of sun grazing comet seen on July 5 and 6, 2011.

    Catching a Comet Death on Camera

    On July 6, 2011, a comet was caught doing something never seen before: die a scorching death as it flew too close to the sun. The chance to watch it first-hand amazed even the most seasoned comet watchers.