Heliophysics

We live in the extended atmosphere of an active star. While sunlight enables and sustains life, the Sun's variability produces streams of high energy particles and radiation that can harm life or alter its evolution.

Under the protective shield of a magnetic field and atmosphere, the Earth is an island in the Universe where life has developed and flourished. The origins and fate of life on Earth are intimately connected to the way the Earth responds to the Sun's variations.

fails to stop flow of oil in Gulf of Mexico

Despite golf balls, tires, 30,000 horsepower of pumps and 30,000 barrels of dense drilling mud chock full of barite, BP's so-called "top kill" operation failed to stop the disastrous oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico and was abandoned on the afternoon of May 29. The idea was to muscle the oil back into the well with a steady stream of mud—a technique that has worked on land.