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The Sun Spot

    Layers of the Sun

    The Sun, with layers labeled: Core, radiative zone, Convection zone, chromosphere, and corona. Features, including a solar prominent, subsurface flows, sunspots, flare, and a corona hole are labeled.

    The Sun and its atmosphere consist of several zones or layers. From the inside out, the solar interior consists of: The Core – the central region where nuclear reactions consume hydrogen to form helium. These reactions release the energy that ultimately leaves the surface as visible light. The Radiative Zone – extends outward from the …

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    Mission Update: Voyager 2 Communications Pause

    The Voyager spacecraft is in set against a dark starry background.

    UPDATED Aug. 4, 2023: NASA has reestablished full communications with Voyager 2. The agency's Deep Space Network facility in Canberra, Australia, sent the equivalent of an interstellar "shout" more than 12.3 billion miles (19.9 billion kilometers) to Voyager 2, instructing the spacecraft to reorient itself and turn its antenna back to Earth. With a one-way …

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    Jack Eddy Fellowship: 5 New Researchers Selected

    Five researchers supported by NASA's Living With a Star Program will join the 2023-2024 class of NASA's Jack Eddy Postdoctoral Fellowship. The early career PhDs, selected by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)'s Cooperative Program for the Advancement of Earth System Science (CPAESS), will research interdisciplinary projects contributing to the field of heliophysics at …

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    NASA Spacecraft Reveal How Earth’s Tilt Causes Seasons in Space Weather

    As Earth spins around the Sun, our planet's slight tilt creates seasons. Now, research from two NASA space missions has found how the same tilt also influences seasonal differences in space weather – conditions in space produced by the Sun's activity. Space weather events produce the beautiful glow of the northern and southern lights, but, …

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    NASA’s AIM Mission Ends Operational Support

    The AIM spacecraft is in the foreground of the image, and it is set against an artistic sunset in the backdrop. Earth is below the spacecraft and is obscured by clouds and haze. The spacecraft is a hexagonal shape and orange and yellow in color. Its mechanical components are shown in gray below the main body of the spacecraft. the solar arrays are affixed to the back of the spacecraft creating the effect of wings on a bird as it soars through the air.

    After more than 15 years of scientific discoveries, NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere, or AIM, spacecraft is no longer supporting operations after experiencing issues with its battery. AIM's batteries initially started to decline in 2019, but the Earth-studying spacecraft continued to return a significant amount of data. Now, with further decline in the …

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    A Powerful Solar Eruption on Far Side of Sun Still Impacted Earth

    A circular diagram shows a swirl of colors. The Sun is represented at the center and the planets and several spacecraft are depicted around it. Suddenly, a blast of darker colors moves away from the central dot, representing the powerful CME moving at high speeds.

    A massive eruption of solar material, known as a coronal mass ejection or CME, was detected escaping from the Sun at 11:36 p.m. EDT on March 12, 2023. The CME erupted from the side of the Sun opposite Earth. While resarchers are still gathering data to determine the source of the eruption, it is currently …

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    NASA’s IBEX Spacecraft Resumes Science Operations

    NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) is fully operational after the mission team successfully reset the spacecraft on March 2. To take the spacecraft out of a contingency mode it entered last month, the mission team performed a firecode reset (which is an external reset of the spacecraft) instead of waiting for the spacecraft to perform …

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    Mission Update: IBEX Spacecraft Now in Contingency Mode

    The IBEX spacecraft against the starry expanse of space. IBEX is an octagon covered in blue panels. Antennae and other detectors in gold protrude from the spacecraft.

    NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) experienced a flight computer reset during a planned contact and the spacecraft went into contingency mode on Feb. 18. While fight computer resets have happened before, this time the team lost the ability to command the spacecraft during the subsequent reset recovery. The team also was unsuccessful in regaining command …

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    Artemis I Payload CuSP CubeSat Mission Update

    The CubeSat to Study Solar Particles (CuSP) launched as an Artemis I payload on 1:47 AM EST on Nov. 16, 2022. CuSP was deployed from its canister about eight hours after launch. Approximately two hours after deployment, CuSP transmissions were received by an Open Loop Receiver (OLR) operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Radio Science …

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    THE GREAT SPRITES CHASE

    Intricate red lights hover a field. A windmill rises in the background.

    THE GREAT SPRITES CHASE A NASA scientist and night-sky fanatic chase the elusive lights across Oklahoma. The odds are not in their favor. By Lina Tran It wasn't dark enough. We'd driven east for two hours from Oklahoma City, and still, a stubborn red light blinked from a nearby wind farm. Paul Smith sighed with …

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