Researchers announced the finding at a press conference on Jan. 31, 2012. It’s based on data from NASA’s IBEX spacecraft, which is able to sample material flowing into the solar system from interstellar space.…

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So you thought Northern Lights were big in Alaska? “That’s nothing,” says Randy Gladstone of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “Jupiter has auroras bigger than our entire planet.”

Last month, Gladstone and colleagues used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to capture the picture above.

The purple ring traces Jupiter’s X-ray auroras. Gladstone calls them “Northern Lights on steroids. …

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A scientist using the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has found a way to forecast solar radiation storms. The new method offers as much as one hour advance warning, giving astronauts time to seek shelter and ground controllers time to safeguard their satellites when a storm is approaching.

“Solar radiation storms are notoriously difficult to predict – they often take …

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