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I was lucky enough to capture an amazing view of the Northern Lights from my home this month when the biggest solar storm to hit Earth in two decades made the Northern Lights visible at much more southerly latitudes than usual.
Despite living in the light-drenched streets of central London, my smartphone camera captured a green haze and a pulsating layer of purple and pink light. Capturing the moment was an unforgettable experience that I thought would require expensive travel to the northernmost reaches of our planet.
Storms that create spectacular aurora borealis like the ones I witnessed originate from the sun’s dynamic magnetic field, an astrophysical mystery that scientists this week moved closer to solving.
NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory
Scientists at NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory used computer models to create a four-day, time-lapse view of the Sun’s changing magnetic field. Field lines are more concentrated in regions of magnetic intensity.
Figuring out how the Sun’s magnetic field works will help scientists improve forecasts of space weather, which dazzles night sky watchers but can interfere with GPS and communications satellites.
The Sun’s looping magnetic field lines, which form a tangled web of structures more complex than those on Earth, are difficult to study directly. To understand what is happening, scientists create mathematical models.
The new model, which took more than a decade to develop and required a NASA supercomputer to perform detailed calculations, found that the Sun’s magnetic field is generated much closer to the surface than previously thought.
The team believes their model is more accurate because it represents a unique solar element.
A single gold earring found in the ruins of a 2,000-year-old building in the Pyrenees holds the key to how a devastating fire could have started. The inferno engulfed a wooden structure located in an Iron Age settlement called Tossal de Baltarga, killing six stabled animals.
Archaeologists believe the fire was intentional. If it was a coincidence, the owners of the building would probably have released the cattle and returned after the fire died down to retrieve their hidden gold that was hidden in the jar.
According to a new study, the arsonists may have been an invading army led by Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who led troops against the Roman Republic.
The fates of the people who used the building are unknown, but excavations have revealed telling details about the lives of an Iberian people called the Cerretani.
Andre Pattenden/English Heritage
The moon is seen above the megaliths that make up Stonehenge, located on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England.
The builders of Stonehenge placed the huge stones that make up the prehistoric monument in alignment with the sunrise and sunset of the longest and shortest days of the year, revealing an intimate understanding of the sun that is still palpable today.
But is a 4,500-year-old site in south-west England – and potentially other megalithic monuments around the world – also aligned with the moon?
The idea that Stonehenge has a lunar connection was first floated in the 1960s. However, this concept has not been systematically explored – until now.
This summer, archaeologists are taking advantage of the lunar lunation, a little-known phenomenon that happens every 18.6 years, to investigate.
For the first time, space scientists have observed the edge of a black hole – an area known as the “fallout region”.
Andrew Mummery, lead author of a new study on black holes and an Oxford University researcher compared it to the “edge of a waterfall” at the end of a river, where orbiting material from nearby stars falls into the abyss.
In the submersion region, the matter can no longer be held in orbit and is instead hurtling into the black hole. But unlike the event horizon or surface of a black hole, light can still escape at this point.
The results of the study, predicted by Albert Einstein, could help astronomers better understand the formation and evolution of black holes.
Philippe Clement/Arterra/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
Jay may be capable of human memory, according to new research.
Corvids – a group of birds that includes crows, ravens and jays – are brilliantly clever. One species of corvid may even be capable of what researchers refer to as “mental time travel.”
This type of recall allows the mind to recall seemingly unimportant information that you didn’t consciously commit to memory—for example, remembering what you had for lunch yesterday.
Researchers working with Eurasian jays trained to find food hidden under cups have reported that the birds may be capable of memory.
In an experiment involving decorated cups, jays were able to remember what a particular cup looked like even when the cups were rearranged and there was a time delay.
And in other corvid news, crows can count up to four, the latest research has found.
Immerse yourself in these mind-expanding stories.
—Thomas Midgley Jr. was a gifted American inventor who left a lasting mark on history. However, his ingenious solutions created even bigger problems.
— Microplastics have been found in human testicles, underscoring the urgent need for more research to understand the role plastics may play in infertility.
— An Austrian winemaker discovered hundreds of mammoth bones in his cellar, a discovery one expert described as an “archaeological experience.”
Don’t go yet: NASA has announced the latest on the much-delayed Boeing Starliner crewed mission.
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