Category Archives: GeoCosmic

Solar and Geophysical data

Strange emissions by sun are suddenly mutating matter

The angry sun For months mounting fear has driven researchers to wring their hands over the approaching solar storms. Some have predicted devastating solar tsunamis that could wipe away our advanced technology, others voiced dire warnings that violent explosions on the surface of the sun could reach out to Earth, breach our magnetic field, and expose billions to high intensity X-rays and other deadly forms of cancer-causing radiation. Now evidence has surfaced that something potentially more dangerous is happening deep within the hidden core of … Continue reading

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New Forecast: Sun’s ‘Superstorms’ Could Doom Satellites

One of the first images taken by SDO and still a favorite: A solar eruptive prominence as seen in extreme UV light on March 30, 2010. The superimposed image of the Earth gives a sense of just how large these eruptions can be.  CREDIT: NASA/SDO Magnetic storms set off by the sun could pose a bigger threat than thought to weather, communication, military and other satellites close to Earth, with a potentially devastating economic impact, scientists suggest. In the new study, researchers found that solar … Continue reading

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Solar Megastorm Could Cripple Satellites for a Decade

Satellites not strong enough to withstand sun’s explosions, model shows. Earth-orbiting satellites are designed to withstand the sun’s explosions—but they may not be strong enough to ride out a solar “megastorm,” a new study says. If hit by a powerful onslaught of solar energy and particles, Earth’s atmosphere would be flooded with high-energy electrons accelerated to nearly the speed of light, according to a new computer model. This would hinder operations of low-Earth orbiting, or LEO, satellites. The satellites wouldn’t immediately start falling out of … Continue reading

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Solar flare could unleash nuclear holocaust across planet Earth

Forget about the 2012 Mayan calendar, comet Elenin or the Rapture. The real threat to human civilization is far more mundane, and it’s right in front of our noses. If Fukushima has taught us anything, it’s that just one runaway meltdown of fissionable nuclear material can have wide-ranging and potentially devastating consequences for life on Earth. To date, Fukushima has already released168 times the total radiation released from the Hiroshima nuclear bomb detonated in 1945, and the Fukushima catastrophe is now undeniably the worst nuclear … Continue reading

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NASA spacecraft observes new characteristics of solar flares

A new assessment of solar flares by a team led by CU-Boulder indicates some are more powerful and last longer than scientists had previously thought, findings that have implications for mitigating damage by solar storms to navigation and communication systems on Earth. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which is carrying a suite of instruments including a $32 million University of Colorado Boulder package, has provided scientists with new information that energy from some solar flares is stronger and lasts longer than previously thought. Using SDO’s Extreme … Continue reading

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Solar flares threaten to disrupt devices as sun enters active phase

It sounds like the makings of the next cheesy action flick: The sun begins spewing massive clouds of radiation and electromagnetic charges toward planet Earth. When they hit, they knock out power grids, GPS satellites, airline communications and incite nuclear meltdowns. But, in fact, scientists are warning that this may happen in the next few years, as the sun comes out of relative dormancy and begins emitting solar flares — the phenomenon most famous for creating the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis. The solar flare … Continue reading

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Cosmic-Ray Intensity Hits 50-Year High

Planning a trip to Mars? Take plenty of shielding. According to sensors on NASA’s ACE (Advanced Composition Explorer) spacecraft, galactic cosmic rays have just hit a space-age high. “In 2009, cosmic ray intensities have increased 19% beyond anything we’ve seen in the past 50 years,” says Richard Mewaldt of Caltech. “The increase is significant, and it could mean we need to re-think how much radiation shielding astronauts take with them on deep-space missions.” The cause of the surge is solar minimum, a deep lull in … Continue reading

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Two Suns? Twin Stars Could Be Visible From Earth By 2012

Earth could be getting a second sun, at least temporarily. Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland, outlined the scenario to news.com.au. Betelgeuse, one of the night sky’s brightest stars, is losing mass, indicating it is collapsing. It could run out of fuel and go super-nova at any time. When that happens, for at least a few weeks, we’d see a second sun, Carter says. There may also be no night during that timeframe. The Star Wars-esque scenario could … Continue reading

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Giant Stealth Planet May Explain Rain of Comets from Solar System’s Edge

Our sun may have a companion that disturbs comets from the edge of the solar system — a giant planet with up to four times the mass of Jupiter, researchers suggest. A NASA space telescope launched last year may soon detect such a stealth companion to our sun, if it actually exists, in the distant icy realm of the comet-birthing Oort cloud, which surrounds our solar system with billions of icy objects. The potential jumbo Jupiter would likely be a world so frigid it is … Continue reading

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Scientists, telescope hunt massive hidden object in space

You know how you sometimes can sense that something is present even though you can’t see it? Well, astronomers are getting that feeling about a giant, hidden object in space. And when we say giant, we mean GIANT. Evidence is mounting that either a brown dwarf star or a gas giant planet is lurking at the outermost reaches of our solar system, far beyond Pluto. The theoretical object, dubbed Tyche, is estimated to be four times the size of Jupiter and 15,000 times farther from … Continue reading

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