Solar physicist Dibyendu Nandi and PhD student Bidya Binay Karak have shown that the Sun’s memory of its sunspot cycles, long believed to be imprinted in its churning plasma, lasts no longer than five-and-a-half years.Sunspots are regions of strong magnetic fields
Solar eruptions are on the rise as the Sun progresses toward the peak of its roughly 11-year-long activity cycle, now expected in mid-2013. Sun produced powerful solar flare rated as X5.4 (based on the peak intensity of its X-rays) on March 7, 2012. During a
New evidence from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory challenges prevailing ideas about how black holes grow in the centers of galaxies. Astronomers long have thought that a supermassive black hole and the bulge of stars at the center of its host galaxy grow at the same
The Bz continues to tilt south and a minor G1 Geomagnetic Storm (Kp=5) is now in progress. Be on the lookout for Aurora at very high latitudes. The Bz Component of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) is currently tipped south and this may help trigger Aurora at
ESA’s Mars Express has provided images of a remarkable crater on Mars that may show evidence that the planet underwent significant periodic fluctuations in its climate due to changes in its rotation axis.On 19 June 2011, Mars Express pointed its high-resolution
The Transit of Venus is over. It was the most spectacular event for all skywatchers as well for the whole astrophysics science community. Technology in 2012 allowed us to observe the Transit from mighty Earth’s telescopes as well as from solar-observing space fleet and
A transit like this occurs when Venus passes directly between Earth and the Sun. Viewers will see Venus as a small dot gliding slowly across a portion of the Sun. The last time the event occurred was on June 8, 2004, and was viewed by millions worldwide. This year,
New sunspot 1496 unleashed an impulsive M3-Class solar flare on June 3rd at 17:55 UTC. The explosion hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space. The cloud does not appear to be heading for Earth, although this conclusion could be revised by further analysis.
At 20:00 UTC (3:00 am Pacific Daylight Time), not long before sunrise on Monday, June 4th, the Moon passes directly behind our planet. Full Moon will fall under the shadow of Earth, producing the first lunar eclipse of 2012. At maximum eclipse, around 21:00 UTC (4:04
2 months of live feed of the Sun recorded from NASA GOES-15 SXI from March 28 to May 28, 2012Music: Chopin – Nocturne in E flat major Op. 9, No.
