Category: Solar System

Our solar system

How do you forecast a solar storm? Space weather experts explain

NeRD

For those who had the opportunity to see the aurora this weekend, it was quite a spectacular moment.  But while seeing the aurora borealis is thrilling and exciting for us, the same coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and geomagnetic storms that make these light shows possible can also wreak havoc on some of the technology that’s part of our daily lives. There was a lot of buzz last weekend about other possible impacts when the historic geomagnetic storms reached the extreme G5 category. Companies that operate satellites like SpaceX reported on…

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Artemis 2 astronauts simulated a day in the life on their moon mission. Here’s what they learned (exclusive)

NeRD

Ever have one of those nightmares where you forget your pencil, or some key item, before a big test? Astronauts flying to the moon face that situation in spades: Once everything is on the spacecraft and they’re on the way, there’s no way to add to or change anything on the Orion spacecraft. So the Artemis 2 crew practiced a “day in the life” of their moon mission, expected to fly there in 2025, to see if there were any little items they may have forgotten. The astronaut quartet literally…

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Satellite images of Rafah illustrate Palestinians fleeing the city

NeRD

Satellite images taken earlier this month offer a spaceborne perspective of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. They include scenes such as a before-and-after sequence that illustrates Palestinian civilians fleeing Rafah, a view of damaged buildings in the region and conglomerates of Israeli hardware.  For the past several months, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have destroyed major portions of areas in which Palestinian civilians live as a response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel, an attack orchestrated by the radical militant group Hamas. As Reuters reported on May 14, Israel says…

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Big decision! Curiosity rover keeps following possible Mars river remnant

NeRD

For the past month, NASA’s Curiosity rover has been shadowing Gediz Vallis, a channel that scientists think may be the fossil of an ancient Martian river.  Last week, Curiosity reached the north side of Pinnacle Ridge, part of a rock wall that looms over Gediz Vallis. In fact, after Curiosity navigated bumpy ground to do that, it found that the ridge’s south side is navigable. That left Curiosity’s overseers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California with a choice: Should they keep on their planned course, continuing to…

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This time, we take it from no one: Why opening the High Frontier of space can be different (op-ed)

NeRD

As we move closer to the greatest revolution of all time, the opening of the High Frontier of space to humanity, some assert this is somehow a bad thing. Based on inaccurate understandings of history and misplaced projections of those misunderstood times to the future, they are spreading ridiculous and possibly dangerous ideas that what is happening in what I call the Space Revolution is a repeat of the conquests and colonization of history. Wrong. Aside from the fact that we are not taking space from anyone, this time, for…

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‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ reinvigorates an aging ‘Apes’ franchise (review)

NeRD

One of the most underappreciated and longest-running franchises in Hollywood history is “Planet of the Apes,” that imaginative science fiction property which began with the Charlton Heston-led classic from 1968 directed by Franklin J. Schaffner.   Adapted from the 1963 French novel by Pierre Boulle, the plotline centered around astronauts crash landing on a planet in the far future where intelligent simians rule the world and humans are mute feral creatures subjected to all kinds of cruelties. The twist ending of course is that this is no remote alien world,…

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SpaceX Starship’s next launch ‘probably 3 to 5 weeks’ away, Elon Musk says

NeRD

We’re likely still a month or so away from the next launch of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket. That was the timeline Elon Musk offered in a post on X over the weekend, saying Starship’s next test flight is “probably 3 to 5 weeks” away. “Objective is for the ship to get past max heating, or at least further than last time,” the billionaire entrepreneur added.  The 400-foot-tall (122 meters) Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. It consists of two elements, both of which are designed to be…

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How a giant sunspot created aurora mayhem this weekend

NeRD

2024 has been quite the year for spectacular space shows, some of them visible from our own backyards. First, it was the total solar eclipse at the beginning of April. Then, late last week, the sun became the “star” attraction yet again: A huge sunspot launched a series of solar storms that supercharged the aurora, making the ethereal sight visible from much of the United States, Europe and many other parts of the globe. Personally, after being completely overwhelmed with emotion experiencing the total solar eclipse in Dallas, I thought…

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Scientists could make blazing-fast 6G using curving light rays

NeRD

The future of cellular data transfer could lie in “curving” light beams midair to deliver 6G wireless networks with blazing-fast speeds — bypassing the need for line of sight between transmitter and receivers.  In a new study published March 30 in the journal Nature’s Communications Engineering, researchers explained how they developed a transmitter that can dynamically adjust the waves needed to support future 6G signals.  The most advanced cellular communications standard is 5G. Expected to be thousands of times faster, 6G will begin rolling out in 2030, according to the…

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‘Extreme’ solar storms cook up sweet Mother’s Day auroras for Moms everywhere

NeRD

Want to save all the calories from Mother’s Day brunch? You may still be able to “sweeten” the holiday with a view of the ramped-up northern lights again tonight (May 12)! Plasma from a powerful solar eruption called a coronal mass ejection (CME) slammed into Earth on Friday (May 10), sparking an intense geomagnetic storm. One of the effects was a supercharged northern lights display, which provided skywatchers in much of the U.S. and other regions around the world with absolutely mesmerizing aurora views over the weekend. “The aurora may…

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