sun news stories on Newser

For Drinkable Water, Add ... Dirt?

Matt Cantor — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:58:03 CDT

One in 6 people in the world faces a clean-water shortage, according to the United Nations—so scientists are proposing a quick fix. Dirty water can be rendered drinkable using a few odd ingredients: Sun, salt, dirt, and lime, NPR reports. The sun's rays can kill the germs in bottled...

Solar Storm 'Hitting Us in Nose'

Polly Davis Doig — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 07:48:24 CST

While most of us were busily counting sheep or howling at the nearly-full moon last night, plasma and charged particles produced by Tuesday night's massive solar flares were hurtling toward the planet at 4 million mph, reports Space.com . This material, the largest coronal mass ejection (CME) in five years,...

Huge Solar Flare Erupts on Sun

Kevin Spak — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:28:00 CST

The sun blasted out a massive solar flare last night, one that could have the potential to cause blackouts and other problems here on Earth, the Washington Post reports. The flare was an X5-class, the strongest category of flare, and, according to NOAA, "one of the largest solar flares of...

Europe Planning Mission to the Sun

Rob Quinn — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 02:28:09 CDT

The European Space Agency is planning to send a probe much closer to the sun than any before it. The Solar Orbiter mission, to be launched in 2017, will send a heavily heat-shielded spacecraft to within 26 million miles of the sun—10 million miles closer than Mercury. The probe,...

Scientists Discover Way to Predict Sunspots

Tim Karan — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:45:05 CDT

Maybe we'll eventually be able to cross off solar flares as a possible way the world ends. Scientists at Stanford say they've developed a system to predict dangerous sunspots two days before they erupt, reports the San Francisco Chronicle . Using satellite data, they can detect the rumblings of solar storms...

Beware of 'Space Weather'

Matt Cantor — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:19:05 CDT

It’s not just the weather on Earth we need to worry about—there are storms in space, too, and they can pose a serious threat if we’re not prepared. Recent years have been quiet around the sun, but it’s about to reach the height of its magnetic cycle, write scientists...

Sun May Soon Enter Long Quiet Phase

Tim Karan — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:43:05 CDT

If we make it past 2012 , we might not be totally out of the woods when it comes to the sun. The next 11-year cycle of increased sunspot activity—expected around 2020—may be a few years late, be less powerful than anticipated, or might not happen at all, according...

Giant Asteroid Now Stalking Earth Around Sun

Evann Gastaldo — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 19:00:05 CDT

Earth has a new follower: Asteroid 2010 SO16, which has joined the Earth's path around the sun and could follow it for the next 120,000 to 1 million years, scientists say. But there's one odd thing about the asteroid, which just so happens to be the largest space rock...

For First Time, We Can See Whole Sun

Evann Gastaldo — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 08:23:39 CST

Two satellites launched in 2006 reached their final destinations this week, giving us, for the first time ever, the ability to see the entire sun. The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft are on opposite sides of the sun, and will continue to provide a complete view of the sun’s...