en http://www.sunearthplan.net/ The Sun Earth Plan aims to learn more about the region of space dominated by our sun. Xenon is one of a group of gaseous elements so unreactive that their existence was not suspected until the end of the 19th century, even though one—argon—makes up nearly 1% of the Earth’s atmosphere. They are collectively known as the noble, inert or rare gases. ‘Rare’ is a bit misleading, since they are as abundant in the universe as other elements of similar mass, but it reflects the fact that they are rarely foun ... http://www.sunearthplan.net/3/1094/THE-NOBLE-CLUE The Earth is constantly bombarded by a stream of charged particles, or solar wind, emitted by the Sun. These particles can cause geomagnetic storms and aurorae on Earth if they arrive at fast enough speeds. Streams of high-speed particles are emitted from holes in the Sun’s corona where the magnetic field is open — that is, where the field lines do not loop back into the corona but extend virtually indefinitely into space. Coronal hol ... http://www.sunearthplan.net/3/933/The-quietly-corrosive-Sun In January 2007, China sparked controversy across the world by using a missile launched from the ground to destroy one of its own weather satellites. The new cloud of space junk significantly adds to the amount of debris already orbiting our planet between 780–970 km altitude. Researchers at the EISCAT Scientific Association (of which the UK is a member), have been monitoring the debris field left behind by the satellite’s destructi ... http://www.sunearthplan.net/3/178/Monitoring-the-space-scrapheap One way to identify a meteorite is by its black glassy coating, called a ‘fusion crust.’ It forms through the frictional effect of the atmosphere on the rock’s surface. Most meteorites are only discovered many years after they've fallen. The best places to find them are hot and cold deserts, such as the Sahara, the Nullarbor Plain in Australia and the Antarctic ice sheet. They’re easily spotted against sand or ice, but if ... http://www.sunearthplan.net/3/17/Stones-from-the-sky In March 1989 the restless Sun hurled a massive pulse of charged particles in our direction, and the world witnessed a spectacular ‘Northern Lights’ (‘Aurora Borealis’) display which could be seen as far south as Florida and Cuba. Suddenly, the entire electricity output from Hydro-Quebec's La Grande Hydroelectric Complex went haywire, and Quebec’s power grid collapsed. Six million people were left without heat and li ... http://www.sunearthplan.net/3/16/Space-weather