Aurora Borealis purple red blue green Arctic

After a lifetime of study, aurora still a mystery

Ned Rozell for UAFGI – Sometimes, after idling in the sky for hours as a greenish glow, the aurora catches fire, erupting toward the magnetic north pole in magnificent chaos that can last for three hours. “Substorms,” as space physicists call them, can happen two or three times each night. The man who came up […]

My Teacher the Android Space Girl

Laura Nielsen for Frontier Scientists I met her in space. Ok, that’s not true. I met Cindi at the AGU Exploration Station, San Francisco, an annual free science event for families and teachers where kids can get hands-on science. I’d never met a space android girl before… what did she do up in space? What […]

Space Weather Predictions

by Laura Nielsen for FrontierScientists. We know that space weather can play havok with technology. Space weather has real effects on human society, technology, and our economy. How do we ready ourselves to deal with it? This rubber chicken can help. The chicken is Camilla Corona SDO, the mascot for NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). […]

Space weather and your technology

Laura Nielsen for Frontier Scientists – We’re all attached to our cellphones. Did you know that the Sun has the potential to disrupt your service? The Sun, the Earth, and our solar system are all part of an electromagnetic system. Our star emits charged particles, radiation, plasma, and dynamic magnetic fields. As these variable particles […]