Tag: Parker Solar Probe

Technology

Massive ‘Cosmic Vine’ unveiled! Structure stretches over 13-million light years

The vastness of the Milky Way Galaxy galaxy makes traversing it an insurmountable challenge. In comparison, our solar system is a mere speck in the grandeur of our galaxy, and yet, it too is overshadowed by the colossal galaxy clusters revealed by the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope and other instruments deployed by humanity. And now, scientists have unearthed an extraordinary entity: the amazingly large "Cosmic Vine".Stretching an astonishing 13 million light-years, the Cosmic Vine is a colossal structure that houses a minimum of 20 massive galaxies. To put this immense scale into perspective, the structure was discovered at a redshift of 3.44, capturing a snapshot of the universe when it was a mere 2.5 billion years old, a fraction of its current estimated age ...
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635266kmph! NASA sets new speed record with Parker Solar Probe! Craft turns fastest human-made object

In the depths of space, the Parker Solar Probe, launched by NASA in 2018 to explore the Sun, has achieved a remarkable milestone. Racing around our star at an astonishing speed of 635266kmph, it has become the fastest human-made object in history, surpassing the legendary SR-71 Blackbird by nearly 180 times.Breaking the Speed BarrierImagine hurtling through space at such incredible velocity, completing 15 Earth circumnavigations in an hour. This incredible feat occurred during the probe's 17th orbit around the Sun, only three years after setting its previous speed record of 586,863 kph, Business Insider reported. What makes the Parker Solar Probe's achievement even more remarkable is that it doesn't rely on artificial propulsion. Instead, it follows a precisely planned orbit around the...
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What makes Aditya-L1 mission by ISRO different from Parker Solar Probe by NASA?

On September 2, 2023, the Indian Space Research Organization launched its first Sun-studying project. Called the Aditya-L1 mission, the objectives include settling the spacecraft at around 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth in a specific place called L1 point to keep an uninterrupted eye on the Sun. The Parker Solar Probe by NASA, on the other hand, was launched on August 12, 2018, and has been getting up really close and personal with the Sun.Aditya-L1 mission vs Parker Solar ProbeAditya-L1 mission by ISRO is India's first Sun-studying mission, that expected to work for at least five years. It will go into a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, located about 1.5 million km from Earth. NASA's Parker Solar Probe is a super-fast spacecraft, travelling ...
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Shocking find by NASA Parker Solar Probe; Lightning on Venus may be meteors crashing

NASA is running various space missions to find out the secrets of the universe. One of the major missions of the space agency is the Parker Solar probe. The spacecraft has been tasked with orbiting the Sun to find out crucial data around sunspots, solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CME), and solar storms. However, in its journey, it routinely flies past Venus. And this has allowed Parker Solar Probe to possibly find the reason behind one of the biggest phenomena that has confused scientists for years. It found that the lightning on Venus may not actually be lightning at all. In fact, they are likely to be meteors that are striking the planet and are burning up in its atmosphere.Venus lightning stormsThe revelation came in 2021 when the Parker Solar Probe executed a routine flyby of ...
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Trouble for Aditya-L1? NASA Parker Solar Probe gets caught in a dangerous CME whirlwind

Solar activity has been rising significantly, with solar storms hitting the Earth left, right, and center with high frequency. But it is not just the Earth that is dealing with such impacts. Recently, NASA shared terrifying footage of the Parker Solar Probe flying through an intense coronal mass ejection (CME) cloud. This was the first time the NASA spacecraft had to endure such an ordeal, and it managed to come out unscathed from the incident and collected some important data along the way. However, such impacts are known to badly damage satellites and spacecraft alike, and with ISRO's Aditya-L1 mission spacecraft reaching its destination at Lagrange 1 point in four months to observe the Sun, there is a fear that it may have to suffer a similar fate.According to a NASA blog post, “On ...
Technology

Solar storms and Internet apocalypse: Why researcher feels bad

Recent discussions about the possibility of an "internet apocalypse" caused by solar storms have captured the attention of social media users. While the concept may sound like science fiction, experts suggest that a widespread internet outage triggered by a powerful solar storm is a rare, but plausible event. As the sun enters a particularly active phase known as the "solar maximum" in 2025, concerns about the world's preparedness have started to rise.In effect, when the Sun is extremely volatile, it spews out energy in space. This can be in the form of what is called solar flares, coronal mass ejection, solar wind etc. If it happens to collide with the Earth's magnetic field, it immediately sparks a geomagnetic storm. While one effect of that are the beautiful auroras, the other is th...
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NASA’s Webb Telescope unveils farthest supermassive black hole, Parker Solar Probe, more

NASA had some incredible updates to share this week, including the Parker Solar Probe's journey around the Sun, the James Webb Telescope's newest find and the communication with the Mars helicopter. Let's dive into the details!Webb Telescope spots farthest active supermassive “Black Hole” everScientists used the James Webb Space Telescope to find the farthest active supermassive black hole discovered so far. This black hole is smaller than any other black hole found in the early universe. It was located in a galaxy that formed just over 570 million years after the Big Bang. Parker Solar Probe completes 16th orbit around the SunNASA's Parker Solar Probe successfully finished its 16th orbit around the Sun. During this orbit, the probe came incredibly close to the Sun's surface, reaching ...
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Parker Solar Probe reveals secrets of the solar wind, which sparks geomagnetic storms on Earth

Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery about the solar wind, revealing how it reaches extraordinary speeds exceeding 1 million miles per hour. The findings, published in the journal Nature, draw on data collected by NASA's Parker Solar Probe. The researchers found that the magnetic field's energy near the sun's surface pushes the solar wind to achieve such terrifying speeds, reports SciTech Daily.Co-led by James Drake from the University of Maryland and Stuart Bale from UC Berkeley, the study sheds light on a long-standing mystery regarding the drivers of solar wind. Understanding the implications for Earth is crucial. The solar wind creates a massive magnetic bubble called the heliosphere, shielding our solar system's planets from cosmic rays. However, it also carries plasma ...
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NASA’s Parker Solar Probe to help understand geomagnetic storms, prevent internet apocalypse

NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP) has gathered crucial data that could help prevent a potential internet apocalypse caused by solar storms. A recent study reveals that understanding the origin of solar wind is essential in predicting these storms, which can have devastating effects on satellites, the electrical grid, and communication networks on Earth. The research team suggests that fast solar winds are produced through a process called magnetic reconnection, where magnetic fields on the sun create solar storms that strike the Earth's magnetosphere, as per Hothardware reports. When this happens, it sparks geomagnetic storms on Earth and that can cripple satellites, Internet, power grids, radio communications and more on Earth.Geomagnetic storms also generate the fascinating auroras. Sc...
Technology

Can a solar storm spark global Internet breakdown on Earth? The facts will shock and awe you

The fearful truth is that a solar storm can actually destroy the Internet on Earth and not just for a few hours or days, but for months, sparking chaos and deaths across the world. A solar storm refers to atmospheric disturbances experienced on Earth that originate from the sun, primarily caused by solar flares. These are shot from the Sun and strike anythhing that gets in their path including the Earth. It s a powerful source of energy which, when it hits the Earth's atmosphere, sparks a geomagnetic storm here. While the fascinating result is an aurora, the fearful thing that can happen is that the magnetic storm can wipe out satellites and other delicate instruments in undersea cables that carry the world's internet, said Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi at the University of California Irvine. ...