Solar Flares

Caltech astronomers have detected the first sunspot of a new sunspot cycle, marking the end of the sun's quiescent period and the beginning of a new surge of activity. The spot was observed Aug. 12 by Hal Zirin and his colleagues at Big Bear Solar Observatory.

One of the strongest geomagnetic storms since 1976 disrupted communications across much of the northern United States on Saturday, a spokesman at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. The disruption of the Earth's normal magnetic field meant problems for satellites, radios and aircraft, but also meant a "northern lights" display much farther south than usual, a spokesman at NOAA's Space Environment Services Center said.

The orbit of Solar Max, a 5,000-pound satellite that collected information on solar flares for nine years, has deteriorated to the point that the spacecraft should crash back to Earth late this week, NASA said today. Most of the craft will burn up in the atmosphere, but about a dozen pieces weighing 3 to 5 pounds each, plus one piece weighing about 100 pounds, are expected to come back down to Earth. The debris could hit anywhere on Earth from 28 degrees north to 28 degrees south of the Equator.

New measurements make it increasingly clear that people--and not a natural force such as sunspots or volcanoes--are responsible for global warming, U.S. researchers said Thursday. Tom Wigley of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., and colleagues analyzed 115 years of global temperature data and concluded the release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide explains most of the 1-degree increase in the planet's average temperature over the last century.

A magnetic storm that could disrupt radio transmissions and satellites--and also produce colorful northern lights--is expected to strike the Earth today and could last until Monday. The massive sunspot eruption took place early Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported. "The storm is expected to reach strong to severe levels, which can adversely affect satellite operations and power grids," reported the agency.

The Solar Maximum Mission satellite, which was once repaired by the ill-fated space shuttle Challenger in a daring rendezvous 300 miles above the Earth, finally tumbled from space Saturday morning in a fiery re-entry over the Indian Ocean. The 5,000-pound unmanned Solar Max entered the Earth's atmosphere at 2:26 a.m. PST and disintegrated over a 500-mile-long band above the open sea between Australia and the coast of India.

Two spacewalking astronauts successfully rewired half of the International Space Station on Thursday, a job that when finished will allow the orbiting outpost to double the size of its crew and add two more labs in the coming years. Flight controllers on the ground happily reported to the space station that power was flowing through two electrical channels hooked up by astronauts Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang. "Excellent.

Lava Cones, White Smoke Balls and Solar Flares that sold so briskly in the week preceding the Fourth of July were being boxed up Tuesday, taped closed and stored for the next 12 months. Fillmore volunteers, who worked almost around the clock during the seven days leading up to July 4 to raise money for local nonprofit groups, spent Tuesday clearing out the 21 temporary booths that had lined California 126.

One of the most spectacular displays of northern lights in years awed sky gazers from Ohio to Utah and as far south as Texas, where solar particles fueled curtains, ripples and clouds of night brightness. "It was Christmas colors," said Julia Penn of the Chicago suburb of Aurora after Friday night's show, which lasted about 30 minutes. "My kids were yelling: 'Santa Claus is coming! Santa Claus is coming!' " she told the Aurora Beacon-News. "Oh, it was just beautiful."

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