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☆ An 'artificial sun' achieved a record-breaking fusion experiment, bringing us closer to clean, limitless energy
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

A fusion reactor in southern France achieved a significant milestone toward clean, limitless energy. The fusion reactor, WEST, created a super-hot plasma and sustained it for a record-breaking 6 minutes. AdvertisementA fusion reactor in southern France, called WEST, just achieved an important milestone that brings us one step closer to clean, sustainable, nearly limitless energy. Fusion energy is more powerful than any form of energy we have today. Commercial fusion energy is still likely decades away, but Delgado-Aparicio thinks they're making steps toward "this big goal of giving energy to humankind."

Persons: —, Luis Delgado, Aparicio, PPPL's, they're, Roux, it's, Delgado, PPPL, Julian Stratenschulte, Tullio Barbui, Novimir Pablant, Delgadot, KSTAR Organizations: WEST, Service, New, Princeton Plasma Physics, NASA Solar Dynamics, CEA, Roux WEST, Getty, Atomic Energy Commission, ITER, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, SPARC Locations: France, Princeton, French

Forecasting solar storms is especially difficult right now, even as the sun is getting more active. CMEs fling charged, super-hot plasma into space, and sometimes — like in the case of this CME — that plasma strikes Earth. On the bright side, these solar storms also make stunning displays of the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, visible in the middle of the US. On a different day, all of these effects combined could have created a very violent solar storm. In the worst-case scenario, which is very rare, all the conditions align to send a very fast and very powerful solar storm to Earth.

Persons: oozing, Keith Strong, Lockheed Martin, Dean Pesnell, Rune Stoltz Bertinussen, Matt Owens, Bryan Brasher, Daniel Verscharen, Owens Organizations: Service, Lockheed, NASA, Dynamics, Prediction, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, Reuters, CME, University of Reading, University College London, NASA Solar Dynamics Locations: Wall, Silicon, Tromso, Norway, Montana , Missouri, Virginia

☆ Images from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft reveal tiny flares shooting from a 'hole' in the sun. They could explain how the sun blasts Earth with charged particles.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

AdvertisementAdvertisementPicoflares could be the source of the solar wind that's blasting EarthAn animation of the solar wind shows particles streaming from the sun towards Earth. That stream, called the "solar wind," gets supercharged when coronal holes or big solar flares are pointed at our planet. Seeing the sun up close, at smaller scales, could reveal its secretsImages from the Solar Orbiter are the closest ever taken of the sun. "Jets, in general, have previously been observed in the solar corona," Chitta, who led the Solar Orbiter study and a team at Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, told Space.com. NASA/SDONASA and the ESA launched Solar Orbiter in 2020, with a goal of studying these winds at their source.

Persons: Lakshmi Pradeep Chitta, NASA's Parker, Chitta, Space.com, it's, Andrei Zhukov Organizations: Service, Orbiter, Solar Orbiter, NASA Solar Dynamics, NASA, Lights, EUI Team, ESA, CSL, MPS, UCL, Probe, Jets, Solar, Max Planck Institute, Solar System Research, European Space Agency, Royal Observatory of Locations: Wall, Silicon, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels

☆ After days of anticipation, many folks won't get to see the northern lights. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Chris Panella | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

This week's forecast for seeing the northern lights across the US was hopeful, but it's now unlikely. Predictions for a stunning display of the northern lights across the continental US this week were promising, but forecasters say it's unlikely now. Usually the northern lights are only visible north of the continental US, in snowy Arctic regions. Scientists rely on observations of space and solar activity in order to forecast the northern lights, but things can change quickly. Even in the days and hours leading to a possible appearance of the northern lights, it's still difficult to predict them.

Persons: it's, Bill Murtagh, Murtagh Organizations: Service, National Oceanic, Prediction, USA, Experts, NASA Solar Dynamics Locations: Maryland, Annapolis , Maryland, Arizona

☆ NASA footage reveals 4 types of solar eruptions and 'holes' that could affect Earth as the sun grows more active
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The sun is slamming Earth with solar flares and high-speed eruptions of plasma. Solar flares can have the power of 1 billion hydrogen bombsA solar flare erupts — the bright flash on the bottom right of the sun — on March 28, 2023. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash on the upper right – on March 3, 2023. CMEs are common culprits of solar storms on Earth, since they can send a powerful flood of solar particles washing over the planet. Coronal holes open a highway for solar windA video from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the massive hole in the sun's atmosphere.

☆ Dramatic image shows a 'plasma waterfall' on the sun that's 8 times the size of Earth
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

This is the latest in a string of stunning solar events as our sun nears a peak of activity. The solar plasma 'waterfall' is shown here on the southern hemisphere of the sun on March 9, 2023. About every decade, the sun's magnetic poles flip, which causes havoc with local magnetic fields that are bursting all over our star. NASA Solar Dynamics ObservatoryA massive coronal "hole" in our sun that spewed energy towards the Earth in recent weeks. NASA / Solar Dynamics ObservatorySpace weather is not just prettyScientists don't only look to the sun to see these beautiful structures.

☆ The sun is getting more active than it has for a decade — and it could lead to power outages, grounded flights, and stunning auroras
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

That motion, called convection, is what creates strong magnetic fields at the poles and smaller, local magnetic fields at the surface of the sun. That instability causes havoc in the magnetic fields at the surface of the sun, which become much more active. NASA/Solar Dynamics ObservatoryAs the magnetic fields become more confused, bigger sun spots can appear on the surface of the sun. As the sun's local magnetic fields get more tangled and crash into each other, they can explode. "The aurora oval that sits up over the northern and southern poles is a result of currents flowing in the Earth's atmosphere," Owens said.

☆ The sun is about to get more active than it has for a decade — and it could lead to power outages, grounded flights, and stunning auroras
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

That motion, called convection, is what creates strong magnetic fields at the poles and smaller, local magnetic fields at the surface of the sun. That instability causes havoc in the magnetic fields at the surface of the sun, which become much more active. As the sun's local magnetic fields get more tangled and crash into each other, they can explode. The worst solar storm we've seen happened in 1859. But as SpaceX and NASA aim to ramp up missions in coming years, they will need to prepare for solar storms.

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