An ecosystem that extends way beyond the top of our atmosphere
NASA handout image shows the Sun acquired by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory on March 8, 2012. A strong geomagnetic storm is racing from the Sun toward Earth, and its expected arrival could affect power grids, airplane routes and space-based satellite navigation systems, US space weather experts said.
NASA handout image shows the Sun acquired by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on March 8, 2012.
NOAA handout image shows the Sun's activity on March 8, 2012.
The sun erupts with one of the largest solar flares of this solar cycle in this NASA handout photo taken on March 6, 2012. This flare was categorized as an X5.4, making it the second largest flare after an X6.9 on August 9, 2011, since the sun's activity segued into a period of relatively low activity called solar minimum in early 2007. The current increase in the number of X-class flares is part of the sun's normal 11-year solar cycle, during which activity on the sun ramps up to solar maximum, which is expected to peak in late 2013.
The sun erupts with one of the largest solar flares of this solar cycle in this multi-colored NASA handout photo taken on March 6, 2012.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory captures an M8.7 class flare in a handout photo released by NASA January 23, 2012. The flare is shown here in teal as that is the color typically used to show light in the 131 Angstrom wavelength, a wavelength in which it is easy to view solar flares. The flare began at 10:38 PM ET on January 22, 2012, peaked at 10:59 PM and ended at 11:34 PM.
This image of a large X2 flare from the Sun taken on February 15, 2011, as seen by Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in extreme ultraviolet light has been enlarged and superimposed on SOHO's C2 coronagraph for the same period, in this photograph released by NASA February 16, 2011. This was the largest flare in over four years. The coronagraph shows the faint edge of a "halo" coronal mass ejection (CME) as it races away from the Sun and was heading towards Earth. Scientists predict that this CME is likely to catch up with ones from February 13 and 14, and the whole mass of particles should reach Earth late February 18th.
Photograph taken by George Simnet, a solar physicist at the University of Birmingham and released March 4 by Britain's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), shows the Sun "sneezing" a huge bubble of hydrogen gas, as seen by the SOHO explorer, a joint NASA-European Space Agency project. A similar flare knocked out AT&T's Telstar 401 television relay satellite on January 11, ruining viewing for millions of people.
An artist conceptual drawing illustrates two spacecraft in orbit around the sun. The new twin spacecraft are already helping scientists track pesky solar storms from the sun to Earth, where they can disrupt satellites, communications and sometimes the electricity supply, the US space agency said on March 1, 2007.
The sun, a portion of the International Space Station and Earth's horizon are seen during the Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-134 mission's fourth spacewalk in this NASA handout photo dated May 2011. REUTERS/NASA/Handout
This image provided by NASA Wednesday Oct. 20, 2010 shows the new Moon passing between the Sun and the Solar Dynamics Observatory's space telescope on Oct. 7, 2010.
This image provided by NASA shows an artist's depiction showing a discovery by NASA's Kepler mission of a world where two suns set over the horizon instead of just one. The planet, called Kepler-16b, is the most "Tatooine-like" planet yet found in our galaxy and is depicted here with its two stars. Tatooine is the name of Luke Skywalker's home world in the science fiction movie Star Wars. In this case, the planet it not thought to be habitable.
This artist rendering provided by NASA, shows Kepler-11, a sun-like star around which six planets orbit. A planet-hunting telescope is finding whole new worlds of possibilities in the search for alien life, including more than 50 potential planets that initially appear to be in habitable zones.
Aurora Australis or "Southern lights" are seen in this picture captured by astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) with a digital camera while they passed over the Indian Ocean, in this September 17, 2011 photograph. Auroras are light shows provoked by energy from the Sun and fueled by electrically charged particles trapped in Earth's magnetic field, or magnetosphere. In this case, the space around Earth was stirred up by an explosion
In this Sat., Aug. 27, 2011 photo provided by NASA and taken from aboard the international space station by astronaut Ron Garan, the sun rises above above the earth in one of the sixteen sunrises astronauts see each day. This sunrise image shows the rising sun as the space station flew along a path between Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina. (AP Photo/NASA)