SOLAR

The top after-market NASDAQ gainers Friday were: Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Alkermes, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, First Solar, Firsthand Technology Value Fund and Brooks Automation. The top after-market NASDAQ losers were: Crosstex Energy, Complete Genomics, Complete Genomics, Vistaprint, Curis, MAKO Surgical Corp and Rambus.

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope has found 11 new planetary systems, including one with five planets all orbiting closer to their parent star than Mercury circles the Sun, scientists said on Thursday.

The 2012 solar storm may have created a spectacular show of northern lights for sky watchers, but it caused great inconvenience for airlines, such as Delta, Quantas and Air Canada, forcing them to divert some of their Arctic flights.

Delta Air Lines was diverting some flights on polar routes between Detroit and Asia to avoid disruptions to aircraft communications by a strong solar radiation storm, the airline said on Tuesday.

Several airlines were forced to divert flight patterns as radiation from a massive solar storm hit earth. The 2012 storm is the biggest in nearly a decade, according to scientists at NASA.

The material from Sunday's solar storm created a spectacular art show of northern lights on Tuesday. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center said the the solar storm was the strongest in more than eight years.

DuPont's quarterly revenue missed Wall Street expectations as its customers bought fewer solar-panel materials and digital television parts, offsetting strong demand for chemicals used in agriculture.

DuPont's quarterly revenue missed Wall Street expectations as its customers bought fewer solar-panel materials and digital television parts due to the weak economy, offsetting higher prices across the company.

A solar flare occurring at 11 p.m. on Sunday caused a mass coronal ejection, a burst of charged particles, and is causing the biggest solar storm since to hit the Earth since 2005. But what exactly is a solar flare?

A massive explosion on the sun's surface has released a current of charged plasma particles toward Earth, which according to scientists, wouldn't jeopardize life but could disrupt satellite communications briefly. This is the strongest solar radiation storm since 2005.

Sun flares that Tuesday will bombard the Earth with solar radiation will be the strongest storm since May 2005 and has apocalyptic enthusiasts buzzing for signs of the end of the world.

While reports that the world's largest wind turbine maker was firing thousands of workers globally shook the renewable energy industry Thursday morning, the bad news did not seem to diminish investor appetite in solar energy stocks, which has picked up considerably over the past week.

A recent solar storm will begin whipping around the Earth's magnetic fields Dec. 28 and it will cause unusually bright auroras, but also potentially cause radio blackouts.

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system, a milestone in the search for planets like the earth, the space agency said on Tuesday.

A layer of gold nanodots on the surface of indium-tin oxide (ITO) coated glass may improve the efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells, according to new research published in the journal, Gold Bulletin.

Google Inc and TransCanada Corp announced deals to buy solar power projects on Tuesday, just days after billionaire Warren Buffett made his second major purchase in the sector.

India could be the latest country to join a growing solar power trade dispute between the United States and China. However, the country does not look to favor either of the two sides.

French silicon company Soitec SA said it will invest more than $150 million in a manufacturing facility in California to produce concentrator photovoltaic modules (CPV) for the U.S. renewable-energy market.

U.S. solar installations soared nearly 40 percent in the third quarter and are likely to be even higher in the current period, though 2011 overall will lag expectations slightly due to a decline in state incentives.

First Solar Inc cut its 2011 sales and profit forecast for the second time in two months Wednesday and said next year's profits would fall below Wall Street's view, sending its shares tumbling more than 20 percent.

According to reports, theorists have been pondering over a cloaked alien spaceship that looks like it is orbiting Mercury after a camera onboard NASA's STEREO spacecraft captured a wave of electronically charged material shooting out from the sun and colliding with the planet on Thursday.