Northern Lights spotted over Atlanta area, north Georgia Friday evening - 11 Alive TV Atlanta - heliopyhsics

G5 Coronal Mass Ejection results in spectacular aurora displays in Georgia USA Power grid:the power grid today is more resilient than it was during Quebec's 9 hour blackout in 1989.Mitigation meausures were put in place as soon as our grid opeators were notified of the GS.Being in Low Earth Orbit,they are somewhat protected by the Earth's magnetic field. Astronauts and Cosmonauts:NASA says the ISS crew is safe and doesn't need to hide in their designated shelters at this time. Satellites:satellites in Low Earth Orbit are slowed down by such events and could experience some problems affecting communications and navigation.

Sun's corona seen in 'exquisite detail' in new Solar Orbiter view - YouTube - Space.com - heliophysics

Solar Orbiter is a NASA/ESA collboration.It is a sun-observing satellite with 10 science instruments for unprecedented insight.It aims to study the inner heliosphere and understand the effects of solar activity on it.*SolO was launched on 10 February 2020 from what is now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit:ESA/NASA-Solar Orbiter/EUI Team

2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Through the Eyes of NASA (Official Broadcast) - heliophysics,planetary science

Chasing the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse With NASA Jets - NASA Goddard - heliophysics,planetary science

A trio of NASA-funded teams will conduct research during the total solar eclipse of 8 April 2024 at 50,000 ft. in altitude in NASA's WB-57 jets.Two teams will image the Sun's outer atmosphere,the corona,while a third will measure the ionosphere,the upper electrically charged layer of the Earth's atmosphere,to ascertain how solar activity can disrupt communications and pose a radiation risk to astronauts.This data will help scientists better understand the structure and temperature of the corona;and even aid in the search for asteroids that may orbit near the Sun.

2024 Total Solar Eclipse News Conference

The Parker Solar Probe will get very close to the sun and gather data on the eclipse never possible before.A NASA WB-40 aircraft will also gatger unique data as it chases the eclpse,getting an extra two minutes of totality.Astronauts aboard the ISS will gather data from a unique perspective,seeing the shadow of the Moon on the Earth.A NOAA satellite will study the effect of the eclipse on the ionosphere.An eclipse was used to confirm Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity by observing gravitational lensing,the bending of starlight around the curvature of spacetime.NASA TV will provide live coverage of the eclipse from 1-4 pm EDT on 8 April 2004 and this blog intends to cover it.If you can't watch it live,you should be able to see a recorded version of it as well later on.

NASA's SDO Captures a February Solar Flare Triple Play - NASA Goddard - heliophysics

Solar flares can disrupt communications and endanger astronauts with cosmic radiation.Cosmic radiation is emitted during solar events,including sunspots,solar flares,coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and proton storms,according to NASA.

Wow! Sun blasts massive X3.4-class solar flare - See it in 4K - heliophysics

The Sun erupted with an X 3.4 - class solar flare on 9 February 2024.The NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the flare in multiple wavelengths. Solar flares of this strength can disrupt communications;affect Earth's magnetic field,intensifying auroras;and bombard astronauts with harmful radiation.

Sounds of the Sun - NASA Goddard - from 2018 - heliophysics

They are educators,trying to explain what this means scientifically,in terms of heliophysics.

The Day the Solar Wind Disappeared from Mars - NASA Goddard - heliophysics/planetary science

The Martian atmosphere and magnetosphere expanded by thousands of kilometers in response. Music:Space Museum - Scored By Impulse,Currents and Crime Scenes-Scored By Investigate

What the Webb Telescope Found Way Back in the Early Universe on This Week@NASA

X1.1 solar flare! New sunspot makes presence known with major fireworks - heliophysics

The solar flare of 20 June 2023 caused a blackout of shortwave radio over North America.The footage is from the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Volatile sunspot gets photobombed by the moon in amazing spacecraft view

The NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory is a space observatory.

Strong aurorae dazzle astronauts from space - heliophysics - Astronomy magazine

Strong aurorae dazzle astronauts from space: A recent large flare from the Sun caused a stunning aurora. One astronaut captured a fantastic shot from his perch aboard the International Space Station.

Heliophysics Careers:NASA Announces Voyager 2 Has Entered Interstellar Space - plus the successors to the Voyager Insterstellar Mission (IBEX and the future probe,IMAP)

If you would like to consider a career in heliophysics or just increase your knowledge of the solar system and its immediate environment,the local interstellar medium,you need to catch up with the stunning developments of recent years.So this blog will try to get you up to speed.Indeed,a major breaking news item crossed the desk today:Voyager 2 has left the heliosphere,the region of strong solar influence,and entered the interstellar medium,the influence of the other stars in the Milky Way.This is six years after its twin,Voyager 1,left the heliosphere in 2012.
Comparing data from Voyager's instruments,it has been ascertained that the spacecraft crossed the outer edge of the heliosphere,the heliopause,on 5 November 2018.The heliopause is where the tenuous,hot solar wind meets the cold,dense interstellar medium,NASA said.Voyager 1,although it was launched 16 days later than Voyager 2,crossed the heliopause in 2012 because of its different trajectory than Voyager 2.Yet one of Voyager 1's instruments gave out in 1980,long before it neared the edge of the heliosphere.That means that Voyager 2,which has the same instrument,but in working order,can provide a unique data set on the nature of the gateway to interstellar space and the local interstellar medium.This working instrument is the Plasma Science Experiment (PLE),so that Voyager 1 made the same passage with one eye shut,so to speak;while Voyager 2 is traveling with eyes wide open.This is causing excitement on the Voyager team.
In any event,on 5 November,the PLE detected a sharp drop off in the speed of solar wind particles,and there has been no solar wind flow in Voyager 2's environment since then,and hence the scientists' conclusion that Voyager 2 has left the heliosphere.
Voyager 2's other working instruments are:
1.the cosmic ray subsystem;
2.the lower charged particle instrument;and
3.the magnetometer,all of which are recording data consistent with Voyager 2's having left the heliosphere. *
According to Voyager project scientist Ed Stone:
There is still a lot to learn about the region of interstellar space immediately beyond the heliopause.*
Adds Nicola Fox,director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA headquarters:
To have the Voyagers sending back information about the edge of the Sun's influence gives us an unprecedented glimpse of truly uncharted territory.*
The new successor mission to Voyager's Interstellar Mission is IMAP,the Insterstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe,scheduled for a 2024 launch.It will investigate the heliospheric Ribbon and other phenomena with a suite of 10 instruments.Resaerchers from institutions in Poland,Switzerland and Germany will be collaborating on the mission with the US team.
In the past decade, a successor to the Voyager Interstellar Mission,NASA's IBEX spacecraft,and Voyager 1 itself,have revolutionised heliophysics with their discoveries:
1.There is no bow shock wave near the edge of the heliosphere,which was postulated for so long;
2.There is a previously unknown Ribbon in the heliosphere that is two to three times brighter than anything in the sky.It is composed of energetic neutral atoms,or ENAs,the origin of which is unknown;
3.The heliosphere has the shape of a flattened globe with four tails;not the shape of a comet with a long tail!*
At MIT,heliophysics is classified as a branch of astrophysics.