Space

LOGAN — Solar flares nearly 93 million miles away have sparked both awe and concerns this week on our small blue-green planet.

People intrigued by space and beauty have enjoyed photographic images of the flaring sun, and of aurora borealis effects the flare caused on Earth.

A massive explosion on the sun's surface has triggered the largest solar radiation storm since 2005 and has unleashed a torrent of charged plasma particles toward Earth, though the threat to satellites, power grids and other high-tech hardware is believed to be manageable, scientists said.

Type 1a supernovae, exploding stars that can outshine entire galaxies, were instrumental to the Nobel Prize-winning discovery that a mysterious "dark energy" is fueling the expansion of the universe. But astronomers haven't been able to pin down what causes these massive stellar explosions.

Now, after studying a Type 1a supernova in a nearby galaxy, two researchers say that they must be the result of a collision between two white dwarf stars. They made their case this week in the journal Nature.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A private space company will attempt the first-ever commercial cargo run to the International Space Station in February.

When the Curiosity Mars Rover blasts off from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas Rocket Saturday, two area science teachers will know they had a small part in its success.

Jeff Karlin, astronomy, marine biology and zoology teacher at Idaho's Lewiston High School, and Jim Gustin, science teacher at Orofino Junior/Senior High School, accompanied the man behind Mission Curiosity -- NASA astrobiologist Chris McKay -- this summer on the NASA-sponsored Idaho Spaceward Bound study. The five-day expedition took 10 teachers from Idaho, California, Massachusetts and Nevada, three University of Idaho delegates and seven NASA Ames Research Center teachers across Idaho to explore sites such as Hells Half Acre, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Shoshone Ice Caves and bring their discoveries back to the classroom. The trip also had a second focus, according to Karlin.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- An asteroid bigger than an aircraft carrier will dart between the Earth and moon on Tuesday -- the closest encounter by such a huge rock in 35 years.

But scientists say not to worry. It won't hit.

TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey is asking hundreds of state officials who worked under Gov. Brendan T. Byrne to help the effort to track down a 35-year-old moon rock sample missing from Trenton.