Before a total solar eclipse crossed North America on April 8, 2024, scientists at Predictive Science Inc. of San Diego aimed to foresee what the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, would look like during totality. The predictions help researchers understand the accuracy of their models of the Sun’s corona, which extends along its magnetic field. […]
On April 8, 2024, the Moon’s shadow swept across North America, treating millions to a breathtaking view of a total solar eclipse. As the Moon passed in front of the Sun, it revealed the Sun’s wispy white outer atmosphere the corona. Pictures of total solar eclipses are beautiful they capture a moment happening […]
Thank you for helping us out! Over 36,000 people helped do NASA Science during Monday’s total solar eclipse. Together, these volunteers submitted more than 60,000 vital pieces of eclipse data to NASA science projects. More than 30,000 volunteers with the SunSketcher project pointed their smartphones toward the Sun and recorded pictures of Bailey’s beads, flashes of Sunlight […]
The energetic electrons that drive the aurora borealis (the northern lights) have a rich and very dynamic structure that we currently do not fully understand. Much of what we know about these electrons comes from instruments that have fundamental limitations in their ability to sample multiple energies with high time resolution. To overcome these limitations, NASA is using an innovative approach to develop instrumentation that will enhance our measurement capabilities by more than an order of magnitude revealing a wealth of new information about the amazing physics happening within the aurora.
Guessing your age might be a popular carnival game, but for astronomers it’s a real challenge to determine the ages of stars. Once a star like our Sun has