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Articles on Solar flare

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Astronomers can estimate ages for stars outside the Solar System, but not planets. Corbis Historical via Getty Images

How do astronomers know the age of the planets and stars?

Measuring the ages of planets and stars is tricky. An observational astrophysicist describes the subtle clues that provide good estimates for how old different space objects are.
Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the solar system and is home to a potentially habitable planet. Hubble/European Space Agency/WikimediaCommons

Massive flare seen on the closest star to the solar system: What it means for chances of alien neighbors

Astronomers just measured the largest flare ever from Proxima Centauri, humanity’s closest neighboring star. These flares could be bad news for life trying to develop on a planet orbiting the star.
Solar flares and other phenomena can have a surprising effect on our Earthly activities. Shutterstock

Solar weather has real, material effects on Earth

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.

Total solar eclipses reveal the dark and stormy side of the sun we never see

Scientists spend years preparing for the two-minute window of a total solar eclipse.
A nuclear reaction is under way inside the Sun. Emily Nunell/The Conversation CC-NY-BD

Curious Kids: how is the Sun burning?

It’s true that here on Earth, if you want to burn something you need oxygen. But the Sun is different. It is not burning with the same kind of flame you would have on Earth if you burned a candle.
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

Massive sunspots and huge solar flares mean unexpected space weather for Earth

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?
An artist’s illustration of Kappa Ceti whose stellar winds are 50 times stronger than our sun’s. Any Earth-like planet would need a magnetic field to protect its atmosphere if it was to stand a chance of hosting life. M. Weiss/CfA

What the ‘weather’ is like on a star can help in the search for life

In the search for life on other planets in the universe we need to find the right kind of star, and it needs to have the right kind of space weather.

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