Measuring the ages of planets and stars is tricky. An observational astrophysicist describes the subtle clues that provide good estimates for how old different space objects are.
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Articles on Solar flare
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Half a dozen times in the past 10,000 years, enigmatic ‘Miyake events’ have showered Earth with cosmic rays.
NASA, NOAA and SpaceWeather say a coronal mass ejection will reach Earth this week. It has the potential to knock out communications in some parts of the world.
Every few centuries the sun blasts the Earth with a huge amount of high-energy particles. If it were to happen today, it would wreak havoc on technology.
Space weather can affect satellites in a number of different ways, from frying electronics to increasing drag in the atmosphere.
It has only been in the past century that weather prediction on Earth has advanced enough to work two weeks in advance. Predicting space weather, however, is only reliable an hour in advance.
Astronomers just measured the largest flare ever from Proxima Centauri, humanity’s closest neighboring star. These flares could be bad news for life trying to develop on a planet orbiting the star.
Satellites, space stations and astronauts, aviation, GPS, power grids and more can be affected.
Has the Sun entered a stage of old age?
The sun’s phenomena, like flares, can cause solar particles to enter the Earth’s atmosphere, with material effects.
Scientists spend years preparing for the two-minute window of a total solar eclipse.
It’s true that here on Earth, if you want to burn something you need oxygen. But the Sun is different. It is not burning with the same kind of flame you would have on Earth if you burned a candle.
When dozens of US mines planted in waters off the Vietnam coast detonated almost simultaneously in 1972, all eyes turned to the Sun for an explanation.
At a time in the sun’s cycle when space weather experts expect less solar activity, our star is going bonkers with solar flares and coronal mass ejections. What effects will Earth feel?
If we survive for another 7.59 billion years, our planet will spiral into the outer layers of the dying sun and melt away forever.
There’s a disturbing history of solar flares taking out the technology we depend on. As tech becomes more and more vital, knowing what is happening in space is growing ever more crucial.
Our growing dependency on satellites for all forms of communication has made the problem of space weather even more acute.
Life on Earth may have started with a bit of sunshine and showers, followed with a light breeze of laughing gas and a sprinkle of hydrogen cyanide.
In the search for life on other planets in the universe we need to find the right kind of star, and it needs to have the right kind of space weather.
Researchers have found out how to predict solar flares up to ten times faster than previous methods.
Top contributors
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Associate Professor, RMIT University
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Professor of Solar Physics, Monash University
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John Curtin Distinguished Professor (Radio Astronomy), Curtin University
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ARC DECRA Fellow, The University of Queensland
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Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Surrey
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ScotCHEM Chair in Chemical Physics, Heriot-Watt University
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Professor of Astrophysics Education, The Open University
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Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museums Victoria and Honorary Fellow at University of Melbourne, Museums Victoria
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Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University
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Lecturer in Astronomy, Nottingham Trent University
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Lecturer in Mathematics, University of Dundee
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Leverhulme Trust Fellow in Mathematics, Northumbria University, Newcastle
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Researcher in Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College
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Lecturer and STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellow, Queen's University Belfast
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Senior Lecturer (Astronomy), University of Southern Queensland
