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PG&E's bankruptcy court revealed that the company may dump its state-mandated renewable energy source contracts that cost up to 800 percent more than market rates. California mandated a zero carbon emissions future by passing the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. With PG&E residential electric rates rising by 71 percent to subsidizing renewables, Northern Californians' electricity costs 19.30 cents per kilowatt-hour, or about double the 10.66 cents in Oregon and 9.46 cents in Washington.

Ever since Voyager 2 beamed home spectacular images of the planets in the 1980s, planet-lovers have been hooked on auroras on other planets. Auroras are caused by streams of charged particles like electrons that come from various origins such as solar winds, the planetary ionosphere, and moon volcanism. They become caught in powerful magnetic fields and are channeled into the upper atmosphere, where their interactions with gas particles, such as oxygen or nitrogen, set off spectacular bursts of light.

When they weren’t calling the purple, ribbon-like light Steve, the Facebook group referred to it as a “proton arc,” notes ABC News. But when a Canadian physicist and astronomer who studies aurorae looked at the photos, he suspected something more was afoot—especially since proton aurorae, which happen when protons from solar winds hit Earth's magnetic field, are usually too dark to be visible.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The sun's winds are less blustery than they used to be, NASA said on Tuesday, revealing data from a solar probe that promises new insights about Earth's local star but poses few if any consequences for humans -- unless you're an astronaut. The data show the solar wind, a steady stream of charged sub-atomic particles emitted by the sun and blowing at 1 million mph (1.6 million kph), has dwindled to its lowest level in at least 50 years, reducing its strength as a shield against potentially harmful galactic cosmic radiation.

Artist concept of Ulysses making a north polar pass. (Credit: NASA/JPL) The Ulysses spacecraft today is making a rare flyby of the sun's north pole. Unlike any other spacecraft, Ulysses is able to sample winds at the sun's poles, which are difficult to study from Earth. Ulysses has flown over the sun's poles three times before, in 1994-95, 2000-01 and 2007. Last week, solar physicists announced the first indications of a new solar cycle. Visiting the pole at this time may lead to new insights about solar activity. "This is a wonderful opportunity to examine the sun's north pole within...

Asteroid 2007 BB to pass between 0.0026 au or 0.0025 au. The distance to the moon is 0.00256 au(238,855 miles). Earth is okay from any impact. Just for your information.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The solar wind pries open immense cracks in the Earth's magnetic field, holding them apart while it gushes through to cause geomagnetic storms, scientists reported on Wednesday. The findings could help scientists better predict the storms, which can disrupt power, satellites and communications and endanger astronauts, the U.S. space agency NASA (news - web sites) said. "We think we have solved an old and long-standing controversial discussion of how this process of crack formation really works," Harald Frey of the University of California, Berkeley, who led the study, told a news conference. "Now that we know these...