Although here, on earth, we, as humans, perceive the sun as this element with an apparent constant behavior, taking a closer and sharper look, with tools that gather data that humans by themselves can’t, we realize this is not true. The Sun shows an approximate 11-year dynamic cycle of behavior, with periods of more or [...]

What if I told you that the wine of Space tastes much better than the one of the Earth? And that in the near future, more than we think, we will not depend on the beautiful days of Sun to have renewable energy in large quantities from our star? Or even that the next industrial [...]

The solar storm of 1859, also known as the Carrington Event, was a large storm that occurred at the beginning of September 1859, just a few months before the solar maximum of 1860. A solar coronal mass ejection (CME) struck the Earth's magnetosphere and induced one of the largest geomagnetic storms ever recorded. A beam [...]

Solar activity is reflected through the Sun's cycle, which has a periodicity of 11 years, and it can also be called the Solar magnetic activity cycle, Sunspot cycle, or Schwabe cycle. The cycle has an active 7-year period during which solar flare events are probable and a quiescent 4-year period during which solar flare events [...]

The Sun… idolatrized from ancient civilizations people to 60s rock legends, its presence has been acquainted by humanity from early ages, providing it a godlike status, or even dedicated celebrations of its “prevalence against darkness”. This big ball of plasma  has always been there for us, and, as dangerous as it can be extended unprotected [...]

We are back!   Are you ready for our 10th edition?    In this year’s edition of Coimbra Space Summer School, our focus is on solar radiation storms. Solar radiation storms are events that occur when a large-scale magnetic eruption accelerates charged particles in the solar atmosphere at very high velocities. When these charged particles reach the [...]

The Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME) is one of the scientific instruments on the European Space Agency's (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission. RIME is a radar instrument designed to investigate the icy moons of Jupiter, particularly Ganymede and Europa, and to provide valuable insights into their subsurface structures and compositions. This is [...]

by Laetitia Le Deit, Gabriel Tobie, Benoît Seignovert 30/08/2023 JANUS is the visible camera onboard the JUICE spacecraft. It will be used to study the morphology and surface processes of icy moons and perform mapping of the clouds of Jupiter. It will substantially enhance our existing image database of the Jupiter system, through its expanded [...]

According to the dictionary, an astronaut is a person who is professionally trained to travel in a spacecraft. "Astronaut" is the term used by NASA since the start of their space programme. The Russian Federal Space Agency (or its Soviet predecessor) uses the term "cosmonaut". These two became popularised during the 1960's space race between [...]