Rejoicing to Run His Course - Insights about the Sun and the Parker Solar Probe - Part 1
Good Heavens! The Human Side of Astronomy

Rejoicing to Run His Course - Insights about the Sun and the Parker Solar Probe - Part 1

2025-03-01
Our thumbnail image this week is not a doctored or photoshopped image, but a genuine picture of the sun from October 2024. Taken in 193 angstrom light on Oct. 26, 2024, NASA captured our sun in a state of rejoicing, or so it seemed (image credit NASA/GSFC/SDO). The darker regions you see that comprise the eyes and mouth are actually regions of the surface of the sun that have been blasted off by coronal mass ejections that can trigger solar storms here on earth. In fact, solar storm warnings were issued because of this particular image. All that "missing" material is fired off into space and some of it could (and did) strongly interact with Earth's atmosphere, creating the Northern Lights effect. The charged particles from the sun interact with the magnetic field of Earth, which shields us from just such ejections. Without the magnetic shield, Earth's atmosphere would be stripped bare by...
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