FORECASTING dangerous solar storms is about to get easier, thanks to two NASA satellites designed to view them in high-definition 3D.
The storms, known as coronal mass ejections, are billion-tonne balls of plasma spat out by the sun. On arrival at Earth, they can damage satellites, disrupt electrical power grids and even kill astronauts.
Other sun-watching satellites can show when a coronal mass ejection is headed our way, but they can’t predict just when it will hit Earth. “That’s hard to do when it is coming right at you,” says Therese Kucera of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland,…
