Aug 12, 2021 12:49 AM
Astronomers Find a Nearby Star That a Spitting Image of a Young Sun
https://www.universetoday.com/152146/ast...young-sun/
EXCERPTS: . . . The star has been studied since the 1940s. It’s very similar to the Sun in mass and metallicity, but it’s only about 600 million years old. For this study, the team integrated observational data of kappa-1 Ceti with evolutionary solar models. From this, they could make predictions about how the Sun behaved at a similar age. Based on their model, the Sun likely rotated about three times faster than it does now, had a much stronger magnetic field, and emitted more solar flares and high-energy particles.
This interesting thing about the Sun at around 600 million years old is that life on Earth first appeared around this time. Understanding the Sun at this age could give us clues about how terrestrial life formed. This study holds some tantalizing possibilities. Because the Earth’s magnetic field was weaker back then, solar flares and coronal mass ejections from the young Sun would have exposed Earth to more high-energy particles than they do today. These particles could have helped complex molecules to form on Earth. If that’s the case, an active young Sun could have played a key role in forming the building blocks of life.
This is an initial study, so the connection to life is tenuous. But the team hopes to gather data from other Sun-like stars at various ages. With more observations, they will be able to fine-tune their model and create a more accurate history of the Sun... (MORE - missing details)
Protecting Earth from space storms
https://phys.org/news/2021-08-earth-space-storms.html
INTRO: "There are only two natural disasters that could impact the entire U.S.," according to Gabor Toth, professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan. "One is a pandemic and the other is an extreme space weather event."
We're currently seeing the effects of the first in real-time.
The last major space weather event struck the Earth in 1859. Smaller, but still significant, space weather events occur regularly. These fry electronics and power grids, disrupt global positioning systems, cause shifts in the range of the Aurora Borealis, and raise the risk of radiation to astronauts or passengers on planes crossing over the poles.
"We have all these technological assets that are at risk," Toth said. "If an extreme event like the one in 1859 happened again, it would completely destroy the power grid and satellite and communications systems — the stakes are much higher."
Motivated by the White House National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan and the National Strategic Computing Initiative, in 2020 the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA created the Space Weather with Quantified Uncertainties (SWQU) program. It brings together research teams from across scientific disciplines to advance the latest statistical analysis and high performance computing methods within the field of space weather modeling.
"We are very proud to have launched the SWQU projects by bringing together expertise and supports across multiple scientific domains in a joint effort between NSF and NASA," said Vyacheslav (Slava) Lukin, the Program Director for Plasma Physics at NSF. "The need has been recognized for some time, and the portfolio of six projects, Gabor Toth's among them, engages not only the leading university groups, but also NASA Centers, Department of Defense and Department of Energy National Laboratories, as well as the private sector."
Toth helped develop today's preeminent space weather prediction model, which is used for operational forecasting by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). On February 3, 2021, NOAA began using the Geospace Model Version 2.0, which is part of the University of Michigan's Space Weather Modeling Framework, to predict geomagnetic disturbances.
"We're constantly improving our models," Toth said. The new model replaces version 1.5 which has been in operations since November 2017. "The main change in version 2 was the refinement of the numerical grid in the magnetosphere, several improvements in the algorithms, and a recalibration of the empirical parameters." (MORE)
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The Michigan Sun-to-Earth Model, including the SWMF Geospace and the new GPU port, is available as open-source at https://github.com/MSTEM-QUDA. Toth and his collaborators published a review of recent and in-progress developments to the model in the May issue of EOS.
https://www.universetoday.com/152146/ast...young-sun/
EXCERPTS: . . . The star has been studied since the 1940s. It’s very similar to the Sun in mass and metallicity, but it’s only about 600 million years old. For this study, the team integrated observational data of kappa-1 Ceti with evolutionary solar models. From this, they could make predictions about how the Sun behaved at a similar age. Based on their model, the Sun likely rotated about three times faster than it does now, had a much stronger magnetic field, and emitted more solar flares and high-energy particles.
This interesting thing about the Sun at around 600 million years old is that life on Earth first appeared around this time. Understanding the Sun at this age could give us clues about how terrestrial life formed. This study holds some tantalizing possibilities. Because the Earth’s magnetic field was weaker back then, solar flares and coronal mass ejections from the young Sun would have exposed Earth to more high-energy particles than they do today. These particles could have helped complex molecules to form on Earth. If that’s the case, an active young Sun could have played a key role in forming the building blocks of life.
This is an initial study, so the connection to life is tenuous. But the team hopes to gather data from other Sun-like stars at various ages. With more observations, they will be able to fine-tune their model and create a more accurate history of the Sun... (MORE - missing details)
Protecting Earth from space storms
https://phys.org/news/2021-08-earth-space-storms.html
INTRO: "There are only two natural disasters that could impact the entire U.S.," according to Gabor Toth, professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan. "One is a pandemic and the other is an extreme space weather event."
We're currently seeing the effects of the first in real-time.
The last major space weather event struck the Earth in 1859. Smaller, but still significant, space weather events occur regularly. These fry electronics and power grids, disrupt global positioning systems, cause shifts in the range of the Aurora Borealis, and raise the risk of radiation to astronauts or passengers on planes crossing over the poles.
"We have all these technological assets that are at risk," Toth said. "If an extreme event like the one in 1859 happened again, it would completely destroy the power grid and satellite and communications systems — the stakes are much higher."
Motivated by the White House National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan and the National Strategic Computing Initiative, in 2020 the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA created the Space Weather with Quantified Uncertainties (SWQU) program. It brings together research teams from across scientific disciplines to advance the latest statistical analysis and high performance computing methods within the field of space weather modeling.
"We are very proud to have launched the SWQU projects by bringing together expertise and supports across multiple scientific domains in a joint effort between NSF and NASA," said Vyacheslav (Slava) Lukin, the Program Director for Plasma Physics at NSF. "The need has been recognized for some time, and the portfolio of six projects, Gabor Toth's among them, engages not only the leading university groups, but also NASA Centers, Department of Defense and Department of Energy National Laboratories, as well as the private sector."
Toth helped develop today's preeminent space weather prediction model, which is used for operational forecasting by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). On February 3, 2021, NOAA began using the Geospace Model Version 2.0, which is part of the University of Michigan's Space Weather Modeling Framework, to predict geomagnetic disturbances.
"We're constantly improving our models," Toth said. The new model replaces version 1.5 which has been in operations since November 2017. "The main change in version 2 was the refinement of the numerical grid in the magnetosphere, several improvements in the algorithms, and a recalibration of the empirical parameters." (MORE)
- - - - - -
The Michigan Sun-to-Earth Model, including the SWMF Geospace and the new GPU port, is available as open-source at https://github.com/MSTEM-QUDA. Toth and his collaborators published a review of recent and in-progress developments to the model in the May issue of EOS.