Solar Tsunamis:

Do you love diving into the crisp, salty waters of the ocean? Love to feel the sand rolling beneath your feet as you plod through the surf? Do you like the smell of your skin being scorched from your bones, and the feel of your blood as it is boiled from your body?

If you answered “yes” to the first two, you’d probably enjoy catching a few waves on some of California’s exquisite beaches. If you answered “yes” to all three, you’d probably enjoy catching a few solar waves on the Sun’s surface (and you might be a teensy bit crazy, but who am I to judge?).

We all know about the tsunamis that crash across our planet. And we know about the destruction that they can cause. Who can forget the horrifying 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, with its waves reaching some 95 feet (30 meters) in the air? If tsunamis on Earth are so unspeakably powerful, what can be said about solar tsunamis?

Find out: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/solar-tsunamis/

Image Credit: NASA

The First X-class Solar Flare of 2014:

Our sun, that great fireball in the sky, is the giver of light to all the Earth. However, at times, we can feel very disconnected from our nearest star, not so much because of its physical distance (which is some 93 million miles/ 150 million km), but because we take it for granted. From Earth, we just see a bright ball of light that travels throughout the sky, much the same, day after day. The problem is that we don"t really see what is going on, and so we forget about the immense power the Sun. But every now and then, it flares up to remind us that we need to take notice.

Case in point, on January 7 at 18:09 UTC (Jan 8 5:10 am Melbourne, Australia), the sun let off a giant burst of energy! We had our first x-class solar flare for 2014, which registered a maximum flux of X 1.3 at 18:32 UTC.

For much of the Earth, we are still going to be detached from this solar tsunami. However, in the northern and southern latitudes, aurorae are likely to become livelier (as it takes a few days to travel such an enormous distance)

With two large solar flares ringing in the new year, it seems that solar cycle 24 still has more to offer.

Learn more about solar flares by visiting the sources at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/the-first-x-class-solar-flare-of-2014/

Image courtesy of
Science That

Supergiant and Hypergiant Stars Compared to our Solar System:

The universe is filled with enormous planets that make the Earth seem like nothing more than a speck of sand on a mountain. We don"t even need to leave our solar system in order to find the behemoths that put our planet to shame. Take Jupiter, for example. This gas giant has 63 moons, some of which are larger than the other planets in the solar system (like the moon Ganymede, which is larger than the planet Mercury). Similarly, the Great Red Spot (Jupiter"s largest storm system) could swallow Earth twice over, while over 1,300 Earths could easily fit inside the planet itself.

To put it mildly, Jupiter is truly enormous. But of course, Jupiter isn"t the reigning king of the solar system. Obviously, that title goes to our star--you could fit 1.3 million Earths inside the Sun. That may sound impressive, but (unsurprisingly) there are many stars that dwarf our Sun. In fact, there are stars that dwarf nearly our entire solar system....like Blue Supergiants.

Want to learn about some of the largest stars in the universe? See:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/supergiant-and-hypergiant-stars-compared-to-our-solar-system/

Image via NASA

New Observation of a Coronal Mass Ejection:

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are quite possibly the most terrifying storms in the solar system (yes, even more horrifying than Jupiter"s Great Red Spot). Imagine an explosion that sends 100 billion kg (220 billion pounds) of superheated material storming towards you at speeds reaching 1000 km/second (2 million mph). That"s essentially what coronal mass ejections are. These events can release as much energy as one billion hydrogen bombs.

In short, these solar events are amazingly powerful and amazingly destructive. And we had an opportunity to witness one of these events recently, on December 16th and 17th.

See more images of this CME, as well as a video, at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/new-observation-of-a-coronal-mass-ejection/

Via:
NASA

Astronomy Photo of the Day: The Multiwavelength Sun 1/3/2014

Unfortunately, humans can only see light from a very small part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Quite literally, there is a whole universe out there that we can"t see. Fortunately, we have technology to aid us.

This fantastic image of the Sun shows us how our star looks from the visible part of the spectrum to the extreme reaches of the ultraviolet wavelengths. Of course, the light received by our observatories had to be translated into a color that we could see, so this isn"t *actually* what ultraviolet light looks like; however, the image does give us a pretty good idea of how much of our the Sun we can"t see.

Want to know how much of the universe we are missing? See:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomy-photo-of-the-day-the-multiwavelength-sun-132014/

Image:
NASA

The Sun"s Magnetic Field is Expected to Flip Soon. The End of Earth?

According to NASA, over the course of the next few months, the sun"s magnetic field will flip -- just as it does every 11 years (like clockwork). This event will not be catastrophic but it does sound kind of daunting, so what exactly happens when the sun"s magnetic field flips?

Find out here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/the-suns-magnetic-field-is-expected-to-flip-soon-the-end-of-earth/

Image Credit: Karen Teramura [UH IfA]

New Research Suggests Our Sun Won"t Form a Planetary Nebula

You have probably heard that the Sun will turn into a red giant in about 5 billion years. And you probably know that this will result in not-so-fun times for any being still on planet Earth. As it transitions from a main sequence star into a red giant, the outer layers of the Sun will expand across the solar system. When this happens, our life-giving star will turn into an object of utter destruction. The Sun will expand beyond Mercury. It will expand beyond Venus. It will sweep across the entirety of the inner solar system in a mere 5 million years. When it finally stops its expansion, the searing tips of the solar surface will rest beyond the bounds of Earth’s orbit. In short: if we aren’t knocked out of the solar system as the Sun expands, or moved into a larger orbit as it loses mass...we will be consumed.

But what happens to the Sun after it becomes a red giant? We have a pretty good handle on the fate of our own world...but what about the Sun itself?

We once thought it would turn into a planetary nebula, but we might be wrong on that one.

Read More: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/new-research-suggests-our-sun-wont-form-a-planetary-nebula/

Image Credit: ESO/S. Steinhöfel

Alien Stars in Our Solar System: Threats That are Out of This World (literally)

Our solar system is located about 2/3rds of the way from our galactic center, in the Orion spur (of the Perseus spiral arm), which is relatively empty compared to the more cluttered area surrounding the super-massive black hole situated at the center of the Milky Way. However, that"s not to say that no stars or celestial objects pose a danger to us here on Earth. In fact, one particular star may actually pose a significant danger to us. New models uncovered in 2010 say the rogue star could seriously upset the icy comets in the Oort cloud, a theoretical region located on the edges of our solar system.

Read about this cosmic wanderer at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/alien-stars-in-our-solar-system-threats-that-are-out-of-this-world-literally/

Image:
NASA

If One of Jupiter"s Moons Replaced Our Own...

Life is messy. It is turbulent and chaotic. However, in a world that is constantly evolving, there are a few things that we can rely on -- things that help keep life stable and keep us all sane. First, there is the Sun. It rises each day, giving us the light and energy that we need to survive, and then slowly slips behind the horizon (like clockwork).

The same is true of the Moon. Each night, it silently creeps through the sky; acting as a beacon of light in an increasingly dark world. Then, the sun peeks back up on the horizon, causing the moon"s presence to become less apparent for several hours -- until the cycle starts anew. One thing is for sure.. the moon is much more than a hunk of rock.. it"s a familiar, friendly figure. But what if the Moon wasn"t our moon? Furthermore, what would it be like if the Moon was replaced by another celestial body?

Like, one of Jupiter"s moons: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/if-jupiters-moon-replaced-our-own/

Image Credit: Lights in the Dark: https://www.facebook.com/LightsInTheDark

A Star that is Almost as Old as the Universe

To read the full article, see: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/astronomers-discover-a-star-that-is-almost-as-old-as-the-universe/

Timeline of the Future: Part I

Science allows us to do many amazing things. It enables us to analyze the bones of the ancients in order to better understand where we came from; it allows us to glimpse the microscopic organisms that currently share our planet, and it even lets us peek into the future -- foreseeing events like the Sun’s expansion and the death of Earth. Of course, we can never say what will happen with 100% certainty, but we can use our data to make solid predictions about the future.

So join us on a journey to the furthest reaches of time, and see what the future has in store. Here is Part I of the Timeline of the Future.
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/timeline-of-the-future-part-i/

Image source:
Wikimedia

Get to Know Your Star: Classifying the Universe

We all know scientists like to classify and categorize things, especially in space where everything is unfamiliar. This unfamiliarity makes it hard to convey information accurately. On top of this, there’s a seemingly infinite amount of stars in the universe. Fortunately, astrophysics has come up with a snazzy system to tell them apart.

As we all know, stars are huge, bright spheres of gas spinning through space at incredible speeds. Stars provide the energy which makes (almost) all life on Earth possible. Even in death, stars provide us with life -- giving us the heavy elements necessary for our existence. By sorting out the differing types of stars in the universe we (the science community) can start to observe trends and similarities that will inevitably lead to a better understanding of the universe around us.

To learn just how massive (or tiny) the Sun is, check out:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/get-to-know-your-star-classifying-the-universe/

Image source:
NASA

"Seeing" Cosmic Rays

You"ve probably heard of "cosmic rays" before - it"s a term that is thrown about regularly in modern astrophysics and cosmology - but do you know what they really are?

Cosmic rays are high-energy particles with intrinsic mass. They can come from outside the solar system or from extreme solar events (like solar flares). Cosmic rays range from atomic nuclei that have had all of their surrounding electrons stripped away to more exotic particles that make up the standard model. Photons used to be considered cosmic rays; however, they are quanta of electromagnetic radiation that have no intrinsic mass; photons are known by their common names, such as "gamma rays" or "X-rays."

The origin of cosmic rays is unknown, but they are suspected to be born from supernovae, possibly from outside our galaxy. The highest energies produced by cosmic rays have been found to be 40 million times that of those produced in the Large Hadron Collider, but most don"t reach this extreme. Fortunately, our atmosphere protects us from the main front of this strange phenomenon, but out in space where there is no protection, cosmic rays damage equipment--such as microelectronics. However, contrary to popular sci-fi movies, they don"t cause the development of superhuman abilities (The Fantastic Four, anyone?). Studies have tried to detect these particles in a number of experiments, but it has proven difficult for ground-based equipment. They are most easily detected as primary rays in space or the upper atmosphere, and our most effective way of picking up these elusive particles hasn"t been with fancy equipment, but actually through our own eyes!

To learn more about cosmic rays, see:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/seeing-cosmic-rays/

Image source:
http://www.aspera-eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=290&Itemid=196

How Does the Sun Appear on Other Planets?

Question: "I was recently thinking about how big the sun looks on our planet. I then started to wonder how big it would look on Mars then Jupiter, Saturn. So on so forth until we reached little Pluto. So I ask, how big would our personal star look on all the planets? Including Mercury and Venus."

To see what the Sun would look like from Pluto, see: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/how-does-the-sun-appear-on-other-planets/

Drops of Jupiter

Earth is quite picturesque from a few thousand miles away. It is equipped with beautiful hues of green that are spread between large gaps of rolling seas of blue, and of course, there are large collections of fluffy white clouds that dance across the face of the planet. The images taken from this vantage point remind us that Earth is quite stunning. Out of the rest of the planets in our solar system, only one other planet (Jupiter) has the variety of colors that we are accustomed to seeing when viewing space-based images of our home planet. In all other cases, the bland, colorless worlds are a stark reminder that our planet is very much alive. Ultimately, Earth"s colors signify its abundance of life. However, in Jupiter"s atmosphere, the intense colors signify something entirely different...



So what do these colors mean? How does Jupiter stack up against our own planet?

To read the full article, see: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/drops-of-jupiter/