Space
Explainer: What is the solar cycle?
Here’s what causes the sun’s 11-year cycle of activity and what it means for us on Earth.
By Adam Mann
HS-ESS1-3
Communicate scientific ideas about the way stars, over their life cycle, produce elements.
More Stories in HS-ESS1-3
- Chemistry
Pollution power? A new device turns carbon dioxide into fuel
Scientists made a device that converts the greenhouse gas into formate. This salt can then run a fuel cell to make electricity.
- Planets
In a first, astronomers spot the aftermath of an exoplanet smashup
Infrared light from a distant star appears to be leftovers of an impact between a pair of Neptune-sized worlds.
- Space
Scientists Say: Pulsar
These rapidly spinning dead stars send beams of radio waves into space like cosmic lighthouses.
- Physics
Scientists Say: Explosion
Explosions happen when chemical or nuclear reactions blow out a lot of heat, noise and expanding gas.
- Space
James Webb telescope catches newborn stars sculpting spiral galaxies
Dark voids riddle the galaxies, revealing new details about how stars alter their environments.
- Space
Jets may have sculpted rings of Cat’s Eye nebula
The Cat’s Eye nebula is one of the most complex of its kind. A 3-D model now reveals the source of that complexity.
- Physics
Scientists Say: Neutron
Neutrons are one of the main building blocks of atoms and have no electric charge.
- Space
A massive rogue roaming our galaxy may be a black hole
Alternatively, this unseen wanderer might be a hefty neutron star. Whatever it is, its gravity caused starlight to be warped — and that gave it away.
- Space
Explainer: Calculating a star’s age
Scientists can figure out a star's mass or composition pretty easily. Determining how old that star is, however, is a lot harder.
