Tag Archives: solar

Solar wind and real wind

Posted on 21st July by Mr Reid

“Solar wind” is a col­lo­quial term for the stream of charged particles ejected from the surface of the Sun by heat and strong magnetic fields. It is the inter­ac­tion between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field that is respons­ible … Continue reading →

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The Northern Lights over the UK

Posted on 17th February by Mr Reid

A sunspot is an area of intense magnetic activity on the surface of the Sun (the pho­to­sphere) that causes it to decrease in tem­per­ature and darken. One par­tic­ular sunspot (ima­gin­at­ively named “Active Region 1158″, shown above) has been growing in size … Continue reading →

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What’s up with the Sun?

Posted on 5th February by Mr Reid

The Sun (the big floaty fireball, not the awful “news­paper”) has been in the news lately as it’s been pre­dicted that the Sun may inter­fere with the 2012 Olympics. It’s been sug­gested that  solar flares, ejec­tions of material from the … Continue reading →

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Peel and stick solar panels

Posted on 19th May by Mr Reid

A company called Lumeta has developed stick and peel solar panels for the roof of your house. For one install­a­tion they claim to have installed 2.25kW in 34 minutes!

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New solar power efficiency record

Posted on 29th April by Mr Reid

Sandia National Labor­at­ories and Stirling Energy Systems have set a new solar power effi­ciency record of 31.25%. Whilst solar power is only suitable for use in a very small number of areas and doesn’t offer the con­tinuity of service or reli­ab­ility … Continue reading →

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