Articles tagged with Solar Wind
Scientists have proposed a theory that explains the formation of a mysterious 'ribbon' of energy and particles at the edge of our solar system. The retention theory suggests that neutral hydrogen atoms from the solar wind become trapped by intense waves in the magnetic field, creating the ribbon.
Scientists used Cluster data to study the spatial characteristics of turbulence in the solar wind, finding evidence of small 'current sheets' that dissipate magnetic energy into heat. These current sheets play a crucial role in the dissipation of turbulence, contributing to the overall heating of the solar wind.
A new study by the University of Delaware and Delaware Technical Community College suggests that a well-designed combination of wind power, solar power, and storage can fully power a large electric grid 99.9 percent of the time by 2030. The study's findings break conventional wisdom on renewable energy being too unreliable and expensive.
A team of Harvard engineers and chemists are working on a one-year, $600,000 grant from ARPA-E to develop a new type of storage battery that uses eco-friendly small organic molecules. The technology aims to make stationary energy storage cost-effective, enabling wind and solar power to displace fossil fuels more widely.
Scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center directly observed Kelvin-Helmholtz waves in the solar wind, allowing energy transfer into near-Earth space. The presence of these waves enables charged particles to breach Earth's magnetic shield, altering the magnetosphere's behavior.
A new study from the University of Tennessee confirms that solar wind is a source for water embedded in the lunar surface. The researchers found that most of the water in agglutinates comes from solar wind, making it a valuable resource with potential use as rocket fuel.
A new study reveals that the US federal government significantly underestimates the economic damages caused by climate change. The current model ignores the impacts on future generations, resulting in underestimated costs for carbon pollution. Adopting cleaner energy sources can provide significant economic benefits and pave the way fo...
Research by University of Warwick physicist Dr Kareem Osman reveals that magnetic turbulence is the key to the solar wind's surprising heat. The study shows how turbulence in current sheets heats and accelerates plasma, accounting for 50% of the solar wind's internal energy.
Scientists using the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have detected helium in the tenuous atmosphere surrounding the Moon. This observation complements previous in-situ measurements and expands our understanding of the lunar atmosphere.
A USC-led team has developed an air-breathing battery that uses iron plates and oxygen to store energy, reducing energy loss by 4% and making it 10 times more efficient than previous models. The battery's capacity can store between 8-24 hours' worth of energy, with the potential to help California transition to renewable energy sources.
A new process creates high-energy biofuel from biomass, with potential to be economically viable when crude oil is around $100 per barrel. The method has significant advantages over traditional methods and could become even more economical with a federal carbon tax.
Scientists have discovered that the moon's presence affects the solar wind, creating turbulence and changes in direction and density. Computer simulations explain this phenomenon by showing an electric field near the lunar surface generated by sunlight and solar wind flow.
Researchers found that replacing coal with renewable energy sources like nuclear power and wind/solar energy would be the least expensive way to meet greenhouse gas emissions goals. The study suggests a moderate increase in consumer cost of electric power, at most 20 percent.
Scientists have found evidence of 'hot flow anomalies' on Venus, which are similar to those observed on Earth. These events release massive energy and can even deflect the solar wind back towards the sun.
The study provides a glimpse into the mysterious neighborhood beyond our home, revealing an environment that doesn't match up with what we see in the solar system. IBEX's observations shed light on the formation of our solar system, the forces that shape it, and even the history of other stars in the Milky Way.
The NRL SoloHI instrument will study coronal mass ejections and their effects on the solar wind, impacting power lines, satellite communications, and cell phone service. The Solar Orbiter mission will provide scientists with increased understanding of the Sun's influence on its environment and the solar dynamo.
Computer simulations by NASA scientists predict that solar storms and Coronal Mass Ejections can significantly erase the lunar surface, removing a surprising large amount of material. This process, called sputtering, becomes dominant during CMEs due to increased density and velocity.
RUB researchers have solved the puzzle of the solar wind's temperature and energy equipartition by incorporating particle collisions into their model. This new approach explains experimental data significantly better than previous calculations, with implications for other dilute cosmic plasmas.
The University of New Hampshire will provide instruments for the ESA's Solar Orbiter and JAXA's SCOPE missions. The Solar Orbiter will study the Sun's influence on its environment, while the SCOPE mission will investigate magnetosphere processes and solar flares.
The European Space Agency (ESA) will collaborate with NASA on the Solar Orbiter mission, a spacecraft designed to study the powerful influence of the sun. The mission aims to understand how solar activity affects Earth's magnetic environment and potentially damaging satellites.
A team of researchers at the University of Warwick has found a solution to a 40-year-old problem in understanding solar wind turbulence. By analyzing data from the Cluster mission and creating a virtual model, they discovered that turbulence is not affected by the direction of travel of the solar wind, resolving a long-standing issue.
New images show the solar wind's dynamic interactions, including piling up at the leading edge of a CME, voids in the interior, long thread-like structures, and V-shaped structures centered on the current sheet. These findings are changing the way scientists think about space weather.
The study found that rocky planets, including Earth, are enriched in 17O and 18O by about 6% relative to 16O. This supports the 'isotopic self-shielding' mechanism, where photolysis of carbon monoxide liberates oxygen atoms that are sequestered into water molecules.
The Genesis mission has provided the first oxygen and nitrogen isotopic measurements of the Sun, showing significant differences from those on Earth. These results suggest that the solar system was formed through a complex process, with different astrophysical mechanisms contributing to the composition of space dust.
A team of scientists found that solar minimums lead to geomagnetic effects on Earth due to the speed of the solar wind, interplanetary magnetic field strength, and coronal hole placement. Coronal holes caused a decrease in solar wind speed and southward magnetic components, resulting in lower geomagnetic effects.
Scientists have developed a new 'mixing entropy battery' that generates electricity by alternating freshwater and seawater through the device. The technology has promising potential as an additional renewable energy source, with the ability to also desalinate ocean water for drinking.
A new study by the University of Hawaii at Manoa found that combining on-Oahu wind farms and solar energy could meet over 25% of Oahu's projected electricity demand. The study suggests that implementing large-scale wind and solar projects on Oahu can maintain system reliability while eliminating the need to burn fossil fuels.
A comprehensive review of electrochemical energy storage systems reveals promising technologies like vanadium redox flow, sodium-beta alumina membrane, lithium-ion, and lead-carbon batteries. These systems can store electrical energy in chemicals and release it upon demand, but affordability is key to widespread deployment.
North Carolina State University is developing a transformerless intelligent power substation (TIPS) to enable direct interconnection of renewable energy resources and energy storage systems to the grid. The project aims to improve grid power quality and reliability through enhanced communication.
A new study suggests that converting to clean, renewable energy sources is technologically and economically feasible within 20-40 years. The plan involves using wind, water, and solar power to generate electricity, with a focus on combining these sources to overcome variability challenges.
Eberhard Möbius, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, has been recognized as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union for his exceptional scientific contributions to space plasma physics. His work on pickup ions in the solar wind and the development of state-of-the-art instrumentation have far-reaching applications in gala...
The EU-funded ESAIL project aims to develop the laboratory prototypes of key electric sail components. A full-scale electric sail is estimated to produce a continuous thrust of one newton while weighing only 100 kg.
The ARTEMIS mission involves two micro-satellites orbiting the moon, providing a three-dimensional perspective on energetic particle acceleration near the moon's orbit. The mission will also explore the space environment of the moon and its interaction with the solar wind.
Researchers at PNNL have redesigned sodium-nickel chloride batteries to deliver 30% more power at lower temperatures, making them safer and cheaper to manufacture than lithium-ion batteries. The planar design enables compact stacking, improving the battery's performance for large-scale energy storage.
The sun uses its solar wind and ultraviolet radiation to strip Mars' atmosphere, making it cold and dry. MAVEN will examine the ways the sun loses the Martian atmosphere and measure hydrogen isotope ratios to discover how much water has been lost to space.
Scientists have observed Alfvén waves in the solar wind that point perpendicular to the magnetic field, efficiently transferring energy to protons. These waves play a crucial role in heating protons and explaining the solar wind's temperature changes.
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft has made significant discoveries about the interaction between the solar wind and interstellar space. The spacecraft has found that the strength of the interaction varies dramatically across the sky, with a long 'ribbon' and an intense hotspot detected in the heliosheath. These findi...
The Solar Probe Plus mission will explore the sun's corona and solar wind in unprecedented detail. The NRL's Wide-field Imager will provide direct measurements of the plasma and create 3-D images of clouds and shocks.
The Center for Astrophysics (CfA) will play a major role in NASA's Solar Probe Plus mission by deploying the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) Investigation. SWEAP will directly sample the Sun's outer atmosphere, providing unprecedented insights into the Sun's effects on the solar system.
Walter Kohn predicts a new era in human history where solar and wind power dominate global energy, driven by growing alternative energy production and declining oil and gas reserves. International cooperation is crucial to addressing the challenges of a rapidly changing energy landscape.
The IBEX spacecraft has mapped interactions between the solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere, revealing a chaotic pileup of charged particles along the magnetopause. The study provides new insights into the tenuous nature of Earth's outer exosphere and its interaction with the solar wind.
Researchers at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory detected and dated Moon carbon in the form of graphite, which survived from the late heavy bombardment era 3.8 billion years ago. The discovery provides a record of the meteoritic carbon input to the Earth-Moon system when life was emerging on Earth.
Researchers found that solar wind flowing over lunar polar craters creates a complex electrical environment, affecting surface chemistry and dust cling. The team's calculations reveal that the inside walls and floor acquire a negative electric charge due to electron-ion separation, posing challenges for future exploration.
Space physicists from the University of Leicester have identified a significant contributor to Mars' atmospheric escape: pressure from solar wind pulses. The team found that these pulses can drive away particles from Mars' atmosphere, causing a loss of about one third of the material lost into space.
Researchers found that the Earth's magnetic field 3.5 billion years ago was weaker than today, making it easier for solar winds to strip away water from the early atmosphere. The stronger solar wind likely caused more polar aurora and reduced water vapor levels, with potential implications for modern-day water availability.
Researchers use Ulysses spacecraft and solar minimum to create a 200-million-mile-long virtual lab bench for turbulent flows. They find that the evolution of turbulence is governed by the same generalised scaling function, suggesting a universal basic property governing magnetohydrodynamic turbulence.
Stanford University researchers propose that transitioning to renewable energy could reduce global power demand by 30%, making it cheaper than fossil fuels or nuclear energy. The study finds that wind, water, and solar energy can meet the world's power demands with minimal land area required.
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellite has revealed an unexpected landmark at the outer edge of the solar wind bubble, forming a giant ribbon of energetic neutral atoms. The structure is associated with enhanced production of energetic neutral atoms due to interstellar magnetic forces.
IBEX maps show a narrow ribbon of intense emissions at the edge of the solar system, contradicting previous theories. The data suggests the interstellar environment has a significant influence on the heliosphere's structure.
Scientists have found that the number of sunspots provides an incomplete measure of changes in the Sun's impact on Earth over the course of the 11-year solar cycle. High-speed streams of wind from the Sun intensify the energy of Earth's outer radiation belt, posing hazards to satellites and space travelers.
Researchers at the University of Warwick have discovered a new type of turbulence in the solar wind that enables plasma particles to exchange energy without collisions. This finding has significant implications for fusion power development and could provide insights into energy dissipation in solar system-sized plasmas.
A new study suggests that transitioning to renewable energy sources like wind and solar could eliminate 130 worker deaths annually. The researchers found that these industries pose significantly less risk of workplace injury and death compared to traditional fossil fuel industries.
Climate model simulations suggest the Toba supervolcano's eruption caused a decade of severe volcanic winters, with devastating consequences for humanity and ecosystems. The study also analyzed fault movement during the Wenchuan earthquake, finding that simultaneous ruptures of two faults contributed to the disaster. Additionally, scie...
The IBEX spacecraft has made the first observations of very fast hydrogen atoms coming from the moon, shedding light on the 'recycling' process undertaken by particles throughout the solar system and beyond. The neutral atoms can travel long distances before they are stripped of their electrons and become ions.
Scientists have discovered magnetic tornadoes on Mercury that could be replenishing its extremely thin atmosphere. These 'tornadoes' form when magnetic fields carried by the solar wind connect to Mercury's magnetic field, twisting into vortex-like structures.
Researchers are building additional radar units to monitor global space weather and its impact on human life. The new radars will join three existing mid-latitude radars for a continuous chain of coverage from Europe to eastern Asia.
A University of Colorado at Boulder study reveals that periodic 'breathing' of the Earth's upper atmosphere is triggered by cyclic solar wind disturbances, which can alter satellite drag and cause communication disruptions. The findings should improve models for tracking satellites and predicting electronic communication issues.
Papers in this special issue cover data analysis and investigations of the Double Star Program, as well as CMEs, Solar wind, and magnetosphere topics. The conference brought together prominent researchers, including Z.X.LIU and S.T. WU, to share their latest findings on solar and magnetospheric physics.
The IBEX spacecraft will conduct high-altitude orbits to investigate and capture images of the interstellar boundary, a region where the solar system meets interstellar space. The two-year mission will provide insights into the dynamic interactions between the hot solar wind and cold expanse of space.
A team of astrophysicists from the University of Montreal has discovered and measured the most massive star ever found, a binary system with a total mass of over 100 solar masses. The star, located in the NGC 3603 cluster, has a rotation period of 3.77 days and emits X-rays at unprecedented levels.