Aurora over green hills near Thun, Switzerland.
Julien Anet
Every few thousand years, the Sun unleashes a burst of high-energy particles that can have serious consequences for life on Earth.
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.
Aurora visible from Cope Cope, Victoria on May 11 2024.
cafuego/Flickr
Australians were in for a Mother’s Day treat as auroras swept the skies. But there was little warning, and the spectacle didn’t repeat.
AP Photo/Kyle Green
The electric rainbow of the aurora happens when excited atoms relax via ‘forbidden transitions’.
The corona of the sun can be clearly seen in this image taken in 2007.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/NRL/GSFC)
The solar corona can be seen during the solar eclipse on April 8. Astronomers are still trying to figure out the mysteries of the corona, including why it’s so hot.
A sunspot emitting a flare on the surface of the sun.
(NASA/GSFC/Solar Dynamics Observatory)
The sun is expected to reach its solar maximum in 2025. Recent auroras suggest that the maximum may be bigger than predicted.
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.
GOES-18 image of Hunga Tonga Volcano.
NOAA
The eruption was so large, it created its own space weather and satellite technology disruptions – here’s how.
Lightscape / Unsplash
The aurora is one of nature’s most spectacular sights, a dazzling glow in the upper atmosphere driven by space weather.
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 Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights, reflected in the water.
(Shutterstock)
A curious kid asks: Why are the northern lights only spotted at areas around the poles?
The CUAVA-1 satellite departs from the International Space Station.
JAXA
The CUAVA-1 cubesat will monitor space weather and changes to Earth’s ionosphere that affect satellites and electronics.
The interaction of solar winds and the Earth’s atmosphere produces the northern lights that dance across the night sky.
(Benjamin Suter/Unsplash)
It has only been in the past century that weather prediction on Earth has advanced enough to work two weeks in advance. Predicting space weather, however, is only reliable an hour in advance.
A solar flare.
Shutterstock/Color4260
Satellites, space stations and astronauts, aviation, GPS, power grids and more can be affected.
Artist’s depiction of a flare-coronal mass ejection event on Proxima Centauri.
Mark Myers, ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav)
We observed a powerful flare and a huge burst of radio waves from our nearest stellar neighbour, Proxima Centauri, indicating violent space weather around the star.
The sun emitting a sudden flash of light—a solar flare.
NASA
Has the Sun entered a stage of old age?
Solar flares and other phenomena can have a surprising effect on our Earthly activities.
Shutterstock
The sun’s phenomena, like flares, can cause solar particles to enter the Earth’s atmosphere, with material effects.
The low solar corona as viewed in extreme ultraviolet light. Bright regions are where the most energetic solar storms are born. An eruption in action can be seen in the bottom-left.
NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) satellite.
Scientists spend years preparing for the two-minute window of a total solar eclipse.
Lagrange mission.
ESA/A. Baker
The Lagrange mission could greatly improve forecasts of space weather.
Solar flares captured on the Sun.
NASA/SDO
When dozens of US mines planted in waters off the Vietnam coast detonated almost simultaneously in 1972, all eyes turned to the Sun for an explanation.