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Comet Lovejoy plunges into sun's corona, survives

Sat, 12/17/2011 - 13:00 by Sam Ross

A newly found comet named Lovejoy managed to survive its close encounter with the sun on Thursday.

Astronomers discover new planet from another galaxy

Fri, 11/19/2010 - 11:11 by Anter Prakash Singh

European astronomers say that they have discovered a new planet orbiting a red star. Also, scientists claim that the planet is from another galaxy.

Comet watchers waiting for show

Wed, 10/13/2010 - 07:13 by Prince damin

Washingtown -- A comet rapidly approaching Earth should put on a good light show when it nears our planet and the sun in late October, U.S. astronomers say.it

But a NASA spacecraft will get the best view of all when it flies within 430 miles of the icy solar system wanderer on Nov. 4, ScienceNews.org reported.

Comet Hartley 2 orbits the sun ever 6.46 years and will come within 11 million miles of Earth, about 45 times as far away as the moon, on Oct. 20 when it will be visible to the naked eye in the Northern Hemisphere as a fuzzy object in the constellation Auriga.

Sky watchers in the Southern Hemisphere will get their best chance to glimpse it as it moves away from the sun in November.

Probe to eye Martian atmosphere 'theft'

Fri, 10/08/2010 - 10:38 by Prince damin

Boulder, Colo. -- A NASA mission to Mars will study how the sun has stolen the planet's atmosphere, condemning it to a cold and sterile existence, researchers say.

Mars once had a thicker atmosphere and was warm enough for liquid water to flow on the surface, scientists believe, but somehow that thick atmosphere got lost in space, a NASA release says.

The sun with its solar wind is the principal suspect.

All planets in our solar system are constantly blasted by the thin stream of electrically charged gas that continuously blows from the sun's surface into space. Earth's global magnetic field shields our atmosphere by diverting most of the solar wind around it.

September equinox 2010: Harvest moon, Jupiter usher autumn

Thu, 09/23/2010 - 17:22 by Jaspreet Virk

It's fall equinox in the northern hemisphere! The equinox occurred at 03:09 (or 3:09 a.m.) Coordinated Universal Time, marking the official beginning of autumn season.

Theory could explain longer solar cycles

Fri, 08/13/2010 - 07:37 by harsheeb

Boulder -- The sun's cycles of sunspots, solar flares and magnetic activity may be influenced by a plasma "conveyor belt" moving across its surface, U.S. scientists say.

The sun goes through a cycle of such activities lasting around 11 years, and the level of the activity can affect navigation and communications systems on Earth, an article in the journal Geophysical Research Letters says.

But the last cycle, ending in 2008, lasted significantly longer than previous cycles, scientists say.

A study conducted by the National Center for Atmospheric Research suggests one reason for the long cycle could be changes in the sun's conveyor belt.

Scientists find planet with sun-like star

Wed, 06/30/2010 - 01:18 by Pankaj Damin

Montreal -- Canadian researchers say they have confirmed a planet discovered outside our solar system is orbiting a star much like the sun.

First observed by the twin Gemini telescopes operating in Hawaii and Chile in April 2008, it required further research to confirm the two objects were associated and not just aligned by chance, a University of Montreal release Tuesday said.

"Back in 2008 what we knew for sure was that there was this young planetary mass next to a young sun-like star," David Lafreniere of the University of Montreal Department of Physics said.

"Our new observations rule out this chance alignment possibility, and thus confirms that the planet and the star are related to each other," Lafreniere said.

June 26 lunar eclipse heightens the ‘moon illusion’ effect

Sun, 06/27/2010 - 12:22 by Sophie Anderson

It was a feast for the eyes as more than half of the moon's surface was shaded during the partial lunar eclipse early Saturday morning.

Scientists create temperature of 7.2 trillion degrees, hottest since Big Bang

Tue, 02/16/2010 - 14:30 by Ishita Sood

Scientists at the Brookhaven National Laboratory have created temperatures of 7.2 trillion degrees, hottest since the Big Bang. The temperature is roughly 250,000 times hotter than the sun's interior, which is about 50 million degrees.

NASA to launch solar observatory to unravel secrets of the Sun

Wed, 02/10/2010 - 18:01 by Ishita Sood

New York, February 10 -- NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which is expected to unravel secrets of the Sun, is to launch today.

Even “quiet” sun can lash Earth: Scientists

Sat, 09/19/2009 - 22:03 by Jaspreet Kaur

Singapore, September 19 -- U.S. scientists revealed that the sun can lash the Earth with powerful winds even when it is in the quiet stage of its 11-year solar cycle. These winds can lead to an interruption in the communication system and aviation and power lines.