Solar Astronomy
The Solar Radius Might Be Slightly Smaller Than We Thought
Two astronomers use a pioneering method to suggest that the size of our Sun and the solar radius may be…
Parker Makes its Closest and Fastest Solar Flyby
The Parker Solar Probe is the little engine that just keeps going and going by the Sun. On September 27th,…
Is the Solar Wind Coming From These Tiny Jets on the Sun?
Ever since the first direct observations of the solar wind in 1959, astronomers have worked to figure out what powers…
A Massive Solar Storm was Detected on Earth, Mars, and the Moon
The coronal mass ejection on October 28th, 2021, was measured by missions on Earth, the Moon, and Mars for the…
Parker Solar Probe Flies Close Enough to the Sun to See the Source of the Fast Solar Wind
Where does the solar wind come from? That's a question solar physicists have wanted an answer to for decades. Now,…
New Detailed Images of the Sun from the World’s Most Powerful Ground-Based Solar Telescope
Our Sun continues to demonstrate its awesome power in a breathtaking collection of recent images taken by the U.S. National…
China’s New Solar Observatory is Almost Ready for its Trials
There's a new solar observing facility taking shape in China. It lies far up on a mountain near Mangya City…
Solar Orbiter Continues to Get Closer to the Sun, Revealing More and More With Each Pass
On April 10th, ESA's Solar Orbiter made its closest flyby of the Sun, coming to within just 29% of the…
NASA Restores a Spacecraft by Turning it Off and Then On Again
When faced with a potentially mission-ending problem with NASA’s 15-year-old Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft, engineers performed a time-honored procedure…
Birds use Dynamic Soaring to Pick Up Velocity. We Could Use a Similar Trick to Go Interstellar
A new proposal for an interstellar mission shows how a solar sail could use the same technique birds do to…