Two days ago, a pair of huge coronal mass ejections (CMEs) left the Sun and headed for Earth. This morning at around 10:00 am Eastern time the massive magnetic bubbles of gas slammed into the Earth's atmosphere, interacting with our magnetic field and creating a geomagnetic storm that NOAA classifies as severe. Geomagnetic storms are ranked from G1 to G5, with G5 being the highest. Today's storm was classified as a G4.
Since water is one of the vital ingredients for life on Earth, scientists want to know how it got here. One theory is that the water in our solar system was created in the chemical afterbirth of the Sun. If that were the case, it would suggest that water might only be common around certain stars that form in certain ways. But a new study,published today in Science, suggests that at least some of Earth’s water actually existed before the Sun was born -- and that it came from interstellar space.
What’s the fastest way to understand space? According to NASA, it’s listening to the music of the spheres displayed as actual music. A program that converts astronomical data into sound is letting researchers blaze through years of data with ease. At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, University of Michigan doctoral candidate Robert Alexander listens to audio files made from satellite data. The Wind spacecraft sits between Earth and the Sun, and records changes in the Sun’s magnetic field. Here’s how that becomes sound:
The sun emitted three X-class flares—the most powerful type—over June 10 and June 11. Very sparkly. Each flare blasted enough radiation to cause blackouts in radio communications for about an hour on the sunlit side of Earth, according to the U.S. National Weather Service.
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