Sun

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Voyager 2 breaks through to interstellar space

Anthony Wood December 10, 2018

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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Space

The Sun's "identical twin" may have been discovered

Michael Irving November 20, 2018

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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Parker Solar Probe singed but safe after historic close encounter with the Sun

David Szondy November 8, 2018

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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Space

Parker Solar Probe now closer to the Sun than any spacecraft in history

David Szondy October 29, 2018

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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Space

Alien life could be wiped out by outbursts from violent young stars

Michael Irving October 21, 2018

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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Voyager 2 shows first signs of entering interstellar space

Michael Irving October 7, 2018

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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Energy

Interview: Chasing sunlight with the "Godfather of Solar"

Nick Lavars October 6, 2018

We sat down with the CIO of Array Technologies Ron Corio in Melbourne to discuss the latest innovations in the realm of solar tracking, and what the future may hold for this increasingly solar as a form of renewable energy.

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NASA's Solar Parker Probe snaps first image on its way to "touch the Sun"

Nick Lavars September 19, 2018

​​Following a successful launch last month that set it on a path to rendezvous with the Sun, NASA’s Solar Parker Probe has fired up its scientific instruments for the first time, demonstrating that all is in working order as it hurtles away from Earth.

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World-first solar probe en route to "touch the Sun"

Nick Lavars August 12, 2018

​The origin’s of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission can be traced back to a paper published 60 years ago by astrophysicist Eugene Parker, describing high speed matter emanating from the center of our solar system. Today the spacecraft carrying his name lifted off and is now en route to the Sun.

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Space

Radio blackouts caused by intense solar storms complicated 2017 hurricane relief efforts

Anthony Wood July 31, 2018

​​According to a newly published paper, powerful solar storms were responsible for communication outages in 2017, as professionals and volunteers alike worked to provide emergency aid in the wake of the devastation caused by hurricanes Irma, Katia and Jose.

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