Solar Week - Ask a Question

Hi Jennifer, That is a great question! It took many different scientists centuries to work out that the Sun's magnetic field and solar activity affected the Earth's magnetosphere. One of the first people to study the Earth's magnetic field was an English scientist named William Gilbert who...

Hi Chris, When the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Uranus (in 1986) and Neptune(in 1989) auroral emissions were observed. However, they appeared to be weaker than the aurora observed on Jupiter and Saturn. We know more about the aurora on Jupiter and Saturn because more spacecraft have visited these planets...

Hi Victor, That's a great question! The answer is yes, the outer planets are also affected by disturbances in the solar wind like coronal mass ejections (CMES). Although the aurora on Jupiter are strongly influenced by Jupiter's moon Io, the solar wind has also been observed to have an effect...

Hi Teri, Scientists have observed phenomena similar to Earth's aurora on Jupiter and Saturn using telescopes and imagers on board spacecraft. No one has seen aurora on Venus because the planet Venus does not have an intrinsic, global magnetic field like Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn do. However, scientists...

I like Astronomy as a hobby, and many of the web sites have been talking about solar activity lately (or lack there of). I was wondering what the professionals think. It sure seems to be a very weak cycle. When was the last time we had so few sunspots for such a long period? Ever? What will the result...

Hello Fifth Graders from Deer Crossing Elementary! The aurora borealis (northern lights) and aurora australis (southern lights) occur as the result of a complicated interaction between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetic field or magnetosphere. On the day side of the Earth, the solar wind compresses...