Space Physics

When solar radiation increased, these techniques may have helped our species spread across Europe and Asia.

The sounding rockets released vapor tracers and pressure sensors at different altitudes across central and northern Alaska during a sudden auroral substorm.

NASA's Juno spacecraft has discovered a giant volcanic hot spot on the surface of Jupiter's hellish moon Io. The eruptions in this area are chucking out six times the energy being produced by all Earth's power stations, researchers say.

First hypothesized more than 60 years ago, the ambipolar electric field is a key driver of the polar wind, a steady outflow of charged particles into space that occurs above Earth's poles.

Three veteran aurora chasers and a NASA scientist share everything you need to know to check these dazzling displays off your bucket list

Two projects using the James Webb Space Telescope will look at the auroras of Uranus and Saturn to discover what processes make them tick.

Rare but explosive solar eruptions may cause train signals to switch the wrong way, affecting train safety, a new study finds.

The shimmering green, red and purple curtains of the northern and southern lights—the auroras—may be the best-known phenomena lighting up the nighttime sky, but the most mysterious are the mauve and white streaks called Steve and their frequent companion, a glowing green "picket fence."

Research of the phenomenon called Steve has been driven by citizen photographers. As the solar maximum approaches, there could be even more opportunities to ...

November 29, 2023 NASA has selected Dr. Joseph Westlake to fill the position of Heliophysics Division Director. Joe will join the Science Mission Directorate and assume his new role on Jan. 16, 2024.  I am pleased to have Joe take on the role as the Heliophysics Division Director. Joe has a strong background in heliophysics […]

July 20, 2023: On the evening of July 19th, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Sky watchers from southern California to Arizona witnessed a magnificen…

How are plasma eruptions in near-Earth space formed? Vlasiator, a model designed at the University of Helsinki for simulating near-Earth space, demonstrated that the two central theories on the occurrence of eruptions are simultaneously valid: eruptions are explained by both magnetic reconnection and kinetic instabilities.

Sky spiral was a result of sunlight reflecting off excess fuel from SpaceX rocket, says expert

The appearance of the swirl was caught in time-lapse on the Geophysical Institute's all-sky camera and shared widely.

European Juice mission to probe icy worlds for subsurface water layers

A severe geomagnetic storm created auroras that were visible as far south as Arizona in the U.S.

The heliosphere is the gateway to interstellar space, and it's a very weird place that we're just beginning to understand.

Is it possible to hear a meteor? Some people report hearing meteors make a sizzling sound. Scientists explain how you can hear a meteor.

Scientists struggle to explain a new Martian light show.

A recent paper in Acta Astronautica reminds me that the Mission Concept Report on the Interstellar Probe mission has been available on the team's website since December. Titled Interstellar Probe: Humanity's Journey to Interstellar Space, this is the result of lengthy research out of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics L