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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightSun-Orbiting Spacecraft Takes Fascinating Images of a Coronal Mass Ejection
Coronal mass ejections are regular space weather events involving huge, fast-moving expulsions of plasma from the Sun’s surface. They’re routinely observed by a bevy of telescopes, and recently, Solar Orbiter has imaged its first stellar burps. Solar Orbiter is a collaborative mission between the European Space Agency and NASA. It launched in February 2020 and … Continued
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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightScientists May Know What’s Causing ‘Campfires’ on the Sun
Crackling away on a cosmic scale, small flares in the solar corona have been a matter of intrigue for researchers, as they are the brightest spots in a solar atmosphere boasting extraordinarily hot temperatures. Now, scientists propose that the little fires everywhere are caused by the convergence of magnetic fields miles above the Sun’s surface. … Continued
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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightIn a Scientific First, Astronomers Capture a Complete View of Venus’s Orbital Dust Ring
A band of dust that follows Venus along its entire orbital path has finally been viewed in full, thanks to a series of fortuitous maneuvers involving NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. Astronomers suspected it was there, but now we know it’s real: a band of particles distributed along Venus’s orbital path around the Sun. Evidence of … Continued
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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightSolar Orbiter Is About to Reach the Far Side of the Sun
Few 1-year-olds are as intrepid explorers as NASA and the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter. The space probe is already 138 million miles from Earth and is about to take baby’s first trip behind the Sun. Launched on February 10, 2020, it’s finally conjunction season for the plucky little spacecraft, referring to the apparent proximity … Continued
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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightSweet View From Deep Space Shows Earth, Venus, and Mars in a Single Frame
Well, here’s something you don’t see every day. On November 18, 2020, the Solar Orbiter managed to capture three of our solar system’s eight planets in a single frame, according to a European Space Agency statement. The resulting four-second movie was stitched together from a series of still images taken across 22 hours. Venus is the … Continued
