The GOES-U satellite launch this month will deliver a solar activity monitor to space

When it comes to tools, the more they are used, the less reliable they can become.

And sure enough, while the Wide-angle and spectrometric coronagraph experiment (LASCO) instrument at NASA and the European Space Agency'S SOHO (Solar and Heliosphere Observatory) spacecraft have done an excellent job of providing us with images during the recent powerful geomagnetic solar storms it's getting old.

a coronagraph is a specialized instrument designed to block the light from light the sun so researchers can get a glimpse of the hot, thin, and outermost layer of the blazing star, the corona. Space weather forecasters can therefore ...