Departing sunspot 1402… unleashed an X2 class solar flare today. It is going to the back side of the sun and should not cause any more problems. To see current Aurora information click Here Potential Impacts: Area of impact consists of large portions of the sunlit side of Earth, strongest at the sub-solar point. Wide area blackout of HF radio communication, loss of radio contact for about an hour. See latest live sun images here See Current space weather here Video of Flare 1/27/2012 STRONG X-RAY EVENT WARNING ISSUED Issue Time: 2012 Jan 27 1946 UTC SUMMARY: X-ray Event exceeded X1 Begin Time: 2012 Jan 27 1737 UTC Maximum Time: ...

HAYABUSA is a space science mission launched in 2003 by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA. The challenge assigned to the mission was to explore an asteroid and to return samples from the asteroid back to the earth. HAYABUSA approached asteroid Itokawa in November 2005. After detailed remote-sensing observations had been performed, touch-and-go operations were attempted twice to collect samples from the surface of the asteroid. The re-entry capsule that carried the sample container was returned to the earth in June 2010. Although the sampling mechanism did not work as had been planned, HAYABUSA managed to capture thousands of tiny particles (mostly ...

NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets MOFFET FIELD, Calif. (NASA)–  These discoveries nearly double the number of verified planets and triple the number of stars known to have more than one planet that transits, or passes in front of, the star. Such systems will help astronomers better understand how planets form. The planets orbit close to their host stars and range in size from 1.5 times the radius of Earth to larger than Jupiter. Fifteen are between Earth and Neptune in size. Further observations will be required to determine which are rocky like Earth and ...

Incredible pictures of Earth from new satellite The newest Earth Observation Satellite,  NASA’s Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) mission took this stunning image on January 4th, 2012. Suomi NPP is a low earth observation satellite which takes images in swathes each time it passes over earth. You can see hi-res images by clicking on image above or click here to see even higher res images with a stunning amount of detail. This picture represents a composite of passes over the planet as the VIIRS instrument cannot see the entire globe at once. Suomi NPP represents a critical first step in building ...

UPDATE 1/25/12 – The Alert has passed and the storm has subsided. The second storm in a as many weeks has been seen a warning issued. This radiation storm could cause satellites to reboot. Model output suggests potential Earth impact midday on 24 January. Active region on the sun has spawned an M8.7 eruption – nearly an X-flare, the most powerful type, toward Earth, due to arrive Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab say the leading edge of the CME will reach Earth on Jan. 24 at 14:18UT  (+/- 7 hours) that is 9:18am Eastern time. See Live images of the sun ...

Recent headlines were filled with a plethora of information about the reentry of the doomed Russian Spacecraft Phobos Grunt. There have been many rumors and speculation as to why it failed and even threats from the Russian leadership to throw the engineers responsible in jail and punish them. There are theories ranging from out right sabotage by the United States, to accidental interference, faulty design and even aliens. The Russian newspaper Kommersant quoted an unnamed source who said that tests are being undertaken in Russia to determine whether radar beams from a US military base could have caused a failure in ...

(Source -NASA/JPL) NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity will spend the next several months at a site informally named “Greeley Haven.” The name is a tribute to planetary geologist Ronald Greeley (1939-2011), who was a member of the science team for the Mars rovers and many other interplanetary missions. The site is an outcrop that provides a sun-facing slope to aid in maintaining adequate solar power during the rover’s fifth Martian winter. It also provides targets of scientific interest for the rover’s robotic arm to examine. Closer to the equator than its twin rover, Spirit, Opportunity did not need to stay on a ...

The Boeing X-37 (also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle) is an American unmanned vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing (VTHL) spaceplane. The X-37 is operated by the United States Air Force for orbital spaceflight missions intended to demonstrate reusable space technologies. Recently reports of the X37B have stated As of Friday (Jan. 20), the Air Force spacecraft has been in orbit for 321 days, significantly outlasting its stated mission design lifetime of 270 days. The Air Force launched the X-37B in March 2011, sending the plane design on its second space mission. The X-37B now zipping around our planet is known as Orbital Test ...

Global Warming is taking place (Source NASA) – The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880, according to NASA scientists. The finding continues a trend in which nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000. NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, which monitors global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis, released an updated analysis that shows temperatures around the globe in 2011 compared to the average global temperature from the mid-20th century. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience warmer temperatures than several ...

M3.2 Class flare seen by several NASA satellites See Live images of the sun here See article about new flare on 1/24/12 here Update 1/21/12 – The CME has passed and NOAA has removed the warning for a CME Event. The CME is Earth directed with impact predicted for Jan. 21, 2012. Increasing sun activity let loose a long duration M3.2 class flare and coronal mass ejection (CME) between 15:15 and 16:30 UT (or 10:15 eastern) 1/19/12.     This video taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, shows a close-up of sunspot 1401 region as the flare erupts. The CME cloud lifting off is visible just past ...