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7 February 2020
Surfing space dust bunnies spawn interplanetary magnetic fields
New research finds that fine dust from pulverized space rocks is riding the solar wind past multiple spacecrafts, which are detecting the clouds of fine debris as a temporary changes in the local magnetic field.
14 January 2020
Final images from Cassini spacecraft
For the last leg of its journey, Cassini was put on a particularly daring orbit passing between Saturn and its rings which brought it closer to Saturn than ever before. This allowed scientists to obtain images of Saturn’s ultraviolet auroras in unprecedented resolution. The new observations are detailed in two new studies published in the AGU journals.
5 September 2019
Making sense of Saturn’s impossible rotation
Saturn may be doing a little electromagnetic shimmy and twist which has been throwing off attempts by scientists to determine how long it takes for the planet to rotate on its axis, according to a new study.
27 August 2019
Cluster and XMM-Newton pave the way for SMILE
The Solar wind-Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) mission is still four years away from launch, but scientists are already using existing ESA satellites, such as the XMM-Newton X-ray observatory and the Cluster mission studying Earth’s magnetosphere, to pave the way for this pioneering venture.
20 February 2019
Earth’s atmosphere stretches out to the Moon – and beyond
A recent discovery based on observations by the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, SOHO, shows that the gaseous layer that wraps around Earth reaches up to 630,000 km away, or 50 times the diameter of our planet.
18 December 2017
NASA Solves How a Jupiter Jet Stream Shifts into Reverse
Speeding through the atmosphere high above Jupiter’s equator is an east–west jet stream that reverses course on a schedule almost as predictable as a Tokyo train’s. Now, a NASA-led team has identified which type of wave forces this jet to change direction.
19 May 2016
Van Allen Probes reveal long-term behavior of Earth’s ring current
New findings based on a year’s worth of observations from NASA’s Van Allen Probes have revealed that the ring current — an electrical current carried by energetic ions that encircles our planet — behaves in a much different way than previously understood.
19 January 2016
Researchers discover surprising waves in the Antarctic atmosphere
Researchers who have spent thousands of hours observing the atmosphere high above Antarctica have discovered a previously unknown class of wave that ripples constantly through the atmosphere, likely affecting high-level winds, climate, and even Earth-based communications systems.
9 April 2015
New study finds small solar eruptions can have profound effects on unprotected planets
On Dec. 19, 2006, the sun ejected a small, slow-moving puff of solar material. Four days later, this sluggish Coronal Mass Ejection was nevertheless powerful enough to rip away dramatic amounts of oxygen out of Venus’ atmosphere and send it out into space, where it was lost forever. Learning just why a small CME had such a strong impact may have profound consequences for understanding what makes a planet hospitable for life.
2 March 2015
Study of atmospheric ‘froth’ may help GPS communications
Irregularities in Earth’s upper atmosphere can distort GPS signals, Scientists are studying these irregularities to help overcome their effects on communications.
GeoSpace is a blog on Earth and space science, managed by AGU’s Public Information staff. The blog features posts by AGU writers and guest contributors on all sorts of relevant science topics, but with a focus on new research and geo and space sciences-related stories that are currently in the news.