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The unexpected connection between the northern lights and Hubble’s death
The most iconic, longest-lived space telescope of all, NASA’s Hubble, is experiencing orbital decay as the solar cycle peaks. Here’s why.
Here, in the spring of 2024, Earth’s inhabitants are getting quite a show: the greatest, most widespread, and most vibrant auroral display in more than 20 years. This is caused by an increase in solar activity:
- greater numbers of sunspots,
- larger sunspot size,
- greater numbers of more powerful solar flares,
- including those that happen to impact the Earth.
As the number of sunspots and the amount of solar activity continues to increase, with , we have to be aware that the solar cycle hasn’t even reached its peak. With an 11-year period, previous peaks from 2003 and 2014 should be joined by the next one in 2025 or possibly even early 2026, with the potential for an even greater auroral show here on Earth.
While solar activity and space weather isn’t a direct threat to human beings or any biological organism, to electronics, the power grid, and any satellites that are functioning in…
