Astronomers have discovered a rare superflare more powerful than anything observed on our Sun in modern times, erupting from a small, cold star roughly the size of the planet Jupiter.
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A new study indicates that the Sun's magnetic field is 10 times more powerful than previously thought. By analyzing a solar flare using the Swedish Solar Telescope David Kuridze was able to determine that the magnetic field is an order of magnitude greater than measured by Earthbound instruments.
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After coming within a record 15 million miles (24 million km) of the Sun's surface on November 5, 2018. NASA's Parker Solar Probe has completed its first orbit and is heading back for another fiery close encounter.
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The Sun is setting on 2018, and with so many eyes on (and in) the skies it’s been a stellar year for space photography. From mesmerizing nebulae to historic firsts to stunning views of Earth and other planets, New Atlas rounds up some of the best space photos of the year.
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Voyager 2 spacecraft may have finally passed into interstellar space according to a new NASA announcement. At a distance of a little over 11 billion miles from Earth, the probe is now thought to have slipped out of the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields emanating from our star.
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Our Sun may live a pretty lonesome life nowadays, but when it was born it was the middle child in a family of thousands. Now astronomers in Portugal have found not just a solar sibling but a “twin,” more or less identical to the Sun, meaning it’s a great place to look for extraterrestrial life.
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Mission control at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab confirmed receiving the Parker Solar Probe's status beacon on November 7 after it came within 15 million miles (24 million km) of the Sun's surface on November 5.
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The Parker Solar Probe has only been in space about two and a half months, and it's already breaking records. On October 29, 2018 at 1:04 pm EDT, the unmanned spacecraft came within 26.55 million mi (42.73 million km) of the Sun's surface – closer than any other man-made object.
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The majority of stars in our Milky Way aren’t Sun-like – they’re the smaller and cooler red dwarfs. To determine how well these stars might be able to support life, A NASA program is using Hubble to monitor their flare activity, and the first results don’t paint a positive picture.
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After 40 years of zipping through the solar system, Voyager 2 appears to be close to leaving the neighborhood. The probe’s instruments have begun picking up radiation signals that suggest it is breaking out of the Sun’s protective bubble, and will soon join its sibling in interstellar space.
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