The Sun can send out eruptions of energetic particles.
NASA/SDO via AP
The Sun will be at its most explosive right around the time NASA plans to put people back on the Moon.
NASA
Solar storms can play havoc with electrical grids, satellites and railway lines.
A coronal mass ejection on the solar surface.
(NASA/GSFC/SDO)
We’re currently a few years into the 25th studied solar cycle. An 11-year period of sun activity, this solar cycle is more active than previously expected.
The sun at 13:32 on July 15, 2022, just as the filament that resulted in the solar flare begins to detach.
(Helioviewer)
NASA, NOAA and SpaceWeather say a coronal mass ejection will reach Earth this week. It has the potential to knock out communications in some parts of the world.
Typical amounts of solar particles hitting the Earth’s magnetosphere can be beautiful, but too much could be catastrophic.
Svein-Magne Tunli - tunliweb.no/Wikimedia
Every few centuries the Sun blasts the Earth with a huge amount of high-energy particles. If it were to happen today, it would wreak havoc on technology.
The Sun occasionally ejects large amounts of energy and particles into space that can smash into Earth.
NASA/GSFC/SDO via WikimediaCommons
Space weather can affect satellites in a number of different ways, from frying electronics to increasing drag in the atmosphere.
The sun emitting a sudden flash of light—a solar flare.
NASA
Has the Sun entered a stage of old age?
Lagrange mission.
ESA/A. Baker
The Lagrange mission could greatly improve forecasts of space weather.
Solar winds make the Earth’s magnetic field crunch and whistle.
NASA
The Earth’s magnetic field lines whistle after solar outbursts.
A coronal mass ejection erupts from the sun in 2012.
NASA
The wired Earth of the 21st century is at the mercy of the volatile nature of the sun.
A huge solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun on Sept. 6, 2017. A separate image of the Earth provides scale.
NASA/GSFC/SDO
At a time in the sun’s cycle when space weather experts expect less solar activity, our star is going bonkers with solar flares and coronal mass ejections. What effects will Earth feel?
Magnificent coronal mass ejection at the sun in 2012.
NASA
The Parker probe will go closer to the sun than any other spacecraft has dared go before – literally touching it.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Our growing dependency on satellites for all forms of communication has made the problem of space weather even more acute.
Solar flare on August 31, 2012.
NASA
Life on Earth may have started with a bit of sunshine and showers, followed with a light breeze of laughing gas and a sprinkle of hydrogen cyanide.
Tempestuous times on the solar surface.
NASA
It’s the windiest place in the entire solar system – and these storms can be felt here on Earth.
Ain’t half hot: but where’s it heading?
Naeblys
Astrophysicists found out after the January 2014 solar flare that their predictions of solar weather were not very accurate. Here’s the fix (kind of).