Astronomers have spied a star’s swan song as it is shredded by a black hole. Researchers suspect that the star wandered too close to the black hole and got sucked in by the huge gravitational forces. The star’s final moments sent a flash of radiation hurtling towards
The magnetic field of sunspot 1236 harbors energy for M-class solar flares. NOAA forecasters estimate a 25% chance of such an eruption during the next 24 hrs.
On June 14th around 08:10 UTC, a magnetic filament near the sun's eastern limb became unstable and erupted. The resulting blast hurled a bright and massive CME into space. The expanding cloud was observed by 3 spacecraft: STEREO-A, STEREO-B and SOHO. Researchers…
We’re in the midst of an interesting eclipse trifecta. Partial solar eclipses occur during the New Moons on June 1st and July 1st, which are sandwiched around a total lunar eclipse during the Full Moon on June 15th. Those of you in Europe and elsewhere in the
On June 7th at 0641 UT, magnetic fields above sunspot complex 1226-1227 became unstable and erupted. The resulting blast produced an M2-class solar flare, an S1-class radiation storm, and an unbelievable movie:Much of the plasma thrown up by the blast simply fell
Amateur astronomers around the world are reporting strong activity on the limb of the sun. The prominences on June 4th were gigantic. Prominences are clouds of hot plasma
A sharp gust of solar wind hit Earth's magnetic field at approximately 20:30 UTC on June 4, 2011. High-latitude sky watchers in both hemispheres should be alert for auroras. Solar windspeed: 495.9 km/secdensity: 2.6 protons/cm3 Planetary K-indexNow: Kp= 5…
Small asteroid 2009 BD is flying through the Earth-moon system today about 215,000 miles from Earth. The 10m wide space rock poses no threat to our planet, but it is of acute scientific interest.”It’s notable because it remains close to Earth for months at a time and
A team of NASA-funded researchers has measured for the first time water from the moon in the form of tiny globules of molten rock, which have turned to glass-like material trapped within crystals. Data from these newly-discovered lunar melt inclusions indicate the
A solar wind stream is buffeting Earth’s magnetic field, sparking Southern Lights around the Antarctic Circle. Ian Stewart sends this picture to SpaceWeather.com from a jetty near Hobart, Tasmania:”Not long after sunset a friend rang to ask whether a faint arc of
