Browse Archive

  • NASA Schedules Media Events and Coverage for New Solar Mission Launch

    06.11.13 - NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission is scheduled to launch at 7:27 p.m. PDT (10:27 p.m. EDT) Wednesday, June 26, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

  • M5.9 class flare appears on the lower right of the sun on June 7, 2013.

    The Sun Emits an M5.9 Solar Flare

    06.08.13 - The Solar Dynamics Observatory captures the sun emitting a M5.9 class, a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 6:49pm on June 7, 2013.

  • This images show a coronal mass ejection, or CME, erupting into space on May 26, 2013.

    Sun Releases Slow CME

    05.26.13 - On May 26, 2013 at 3:24 p.m. EDT, the sun erupted with a non-Earth directed CME traveling at 550 miles per second.

  • NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare on the right side of the sun on May 22, 2013.

    NASA's SDO Observes Mid-level Solar Flare

    05.22.13 - The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, an M7 class, on the morning of May 22, 2013.

  • A combined view from two NASA satellites of the coronal mass ejection that occurred on May 17, 2013, at 5:36 EDT.

    NASA’s STEREO Detects a CME From the Sun

    05.17.13 - On 5:24 a.m. EDT on May 17, 2013, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection or CME, a solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of solar particles into space.

  • Aurora as seen in Marquette, Michigan on May 18, 2013.

    Auroras Visible in Continental U.S.

    05.20.13 - Coronal mass ejections that accompanied X-class flares early last week, arrived at Earth over the weekend and sparked a geomagnetic storm and aurora.

  • three side-by-side SDO images showing May 12-13 solar flares

    Three X-class Solar Flares in 24 Hours

    05.14.13 - The sun's third significant solar flare in under 24 hours -- and the strongest so far of 2013 -- peaked at 9:11 p.m. EDT on May 13, 2013.

    › Impacts of Strong Flares
  • image sequence of May 2012 annular eclipse, via Wikimedia Commons/Brocken Inaglory

    Solar Eclipse on May 10

    05.10.13 - On May 10, 2013, Earth, the sun and the moon lined up to create a solar eclipse visible from the South Pacific.

  • A NASA Terrier Improved Orion sounding rocket leaves the launch pad.

    Second and Third Sounding Rockets Launched from the Marshall Islands

    05.07.13 - The Equatorial Vortex Experiment was successfully conducted on May 7 from the Marshall Islands when a NASA Terrier-Oriole sounding rocket was launched followed by the launch of a Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket 90 seconds later.

  • SDO image of a solar flare on 3 May 2013

    Sun Emits Mid-Level Flare

    05.03.13 - The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare on May 3. Large enough flares can disrupt radio signals, but this flare's "blackout" has already subsided.

  • MOSC released a Samarium vapor creating a red cloud of charged particles in the ionosphere.

    First of Four Sounding Rockets Launched from the Marshall Islands

    05.01.13 - A NASA sounding rocket supporting a study of ionosphere and its impact on radio transmissions was launched at 3:38 a.m. EDT, May 1 from Roi-Namur, Republic of the Marshall Islands.

  • SOHO captured this image of a coronal mass ejection escaping the sun on the morning of April 25, 2013, at 6:00 a.m. EDT.

    The Sun Sends Two CMEs Toward Mercury

    04.25.13 - On the night of April 24 and the morning of April 25, 2013, the sun erupted with two coronal mass ejections (CMEs), solar phenomena that can send billions of tons of solar particles into space.

  • The EVEX (Equatorial Vortex Experiment) team readies the launcher.

    NASA Mission to Study What Disrupts Radio Waves

    04.25.13 - A NASA-funded sounding rocket mission will launch this spring to observe the formation of electrical storms in Earth's upper atmosphere that can negatively affect satellite communication and global positioning signals.

  • SOHO image of a CME

    Three Solar Eruptions in 2 Days

    04.21.13 - The sun erupted three times over April 20 and 21, sending billions of tons of solar particles into space. The eruptions (called CMEs) were not Earth-directed.

  • Aurora as seen in Keller, Washington on April 14, 2013.

    Spring Fling: Sun Emits a Mid-Level Flare

    04.16.13 - The CME impact on April 13 was weak but it still produced high latitude aurora. The sun emitted a mid-level flare, peaking at 3:16 a.m. EDT on April 11, 2013 accompanied by an Earth-directed CME.