A lucky alignment of two sun-studying spacecraft may have finally solved a decades-old solar mystery. Data from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter suggest that plasma waves known as Alfvén waves inject energy into the solar wind as it leaves the sun’s outer atmosphere, potentially explaining why the solar wind … Read more
The biggest conundrum in cosmology may be closer to being solved, thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope. Scientists disagree on the expansion rate of the universe, known as the Hubble constant. There are two main methods for measuring it – one based on exploding stars called supernovae and the other on the universe’s oldest … Read more
For the first time, scientists have measured a long-sought global electric field in Earth’s atmosphere. This field, called the ambipolar electric field, was predicted to exist decades ago but was never discovered until now. his animation shows how the ambipolar electric field works. The most abundant gas in the lower atmosphere, the part we live … Read more
The opposing fountains of plasma and particles spanning 23 million light-years are the longest pair of black hole jets ever seen. This is enough to influence the evolution of the universe on cosmic scales, astronomers report on September 18. Nature. “Traditionally, astronomers believed that all jets remain inside, or at least very close to, their … Read more