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It has been a busy time for solar activity. Back in March of 2022, Earth was hit by separate geomagnetic storms, according to government weather agencies in the U.S. and the U.K. Though the geomagnetic storms likely didn't cause any harm, they brought into focus the potential harm that could come from more powerful storms in the future. Then earlier this month, a G1-class geomagnetic storm hit the Earth, causing bright auroras over Canada. The only problem is that nobody saw this storm coming until it was quite late. Five days ago, a giant sunspot and filaments on the solar...

The crack in the magnet field was created by a rare phenomenon called a co-rotating interaction region (CIR) from the Sun. CIRs are large-scale plasma structures generated in the low and mid-latitude regions of the heliosphere – the region surrounding the Sun that includes the solar magnetic field and the solar winds – when fast and slow-moving streams of solar wind interact. Like coronal mass ejections (CMEs), CIRs get flung out from the Sun towards Earth and can contain shockwaves and compressed magnetic fields that cause stormy space weather, which usually presents itself to us as pretty aurorae. This one...

A MINOR solar storm struck Earth over the weekend, sparking displays of the Northern Lights in the Arctic. The storm was caused by a volley of radiation known as a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), according to space weather trackers. “Forecasters aren't sure why. The prime suspect is an unexpected CME embedded in the solar wind." G1 storms can cause weak power grid fluctuations and have minor impacts on satellite communications. “Expect unsettled to stormy conditions for the next 48-72 hrs. “High latitude #aurora chasers should get good shows with sporadic views at mid-latitudes.

A massive sunspot has been spotted on our sun that looks directly at Earth The sunspot doubled in size over just a 24-hour period Experts say it could possibly send out medium-class flares in the near future. A dark sunspot that is facing directly toward Earth doubled in size in just a 24-hour period and could possibly send out medium-class flares in the near future. Tony Phillips, the author of SpaceWeather.com, wrote on Wednesday: ‘Yesterday, sunspot AR3038 was big. Today, it's enormous.’ And it is now said to measure three times the size of Earth.

The sun flexed its considerable magnetic muscles today (June 13), and two solar spacecraft captured the show on video. Earth's star unleashed a long-duration solar flare early this morning, blasting high-energy radiation into space for about three hours. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which has been studying the sun from Earth orbit since 2010, observed the dramatic event in multiple wavelengths. The flare registered as an M3.4, putting it in the "medium" class of solar outburst. It was strong enough, however, to cause temporary radio blackouts(opens in new tab) in the Asia-Pacific region here on Earth. (Scientists put powerful solar...

Amplified aurora displays are possible if a coronal mass ejection of charged particles emerges from the "mixed-up" sunspot AR3006, which pointed its flaring blast toward Earth Tuesday (May 10) at 9:55 a.m. EDT (1355 GMT). The flare was caught on camera by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and spurred a radio emission alert by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), amid a reported shortwave radio blackout in the Atlantic Ocean region. AR3006's polarity is the reverse of what scientists are expecting, which makes the sunspot "interesting and dangerous," SpaceWeather.com stated. (Sunspot polarity is governed by the current solar cycle.) "If...

A sunspot that "awoke from the dead" last week and erupted with a medium-size solar flare, along with a mass ejection of plasma, also lit up the northern skies in glowing lights. One stunning image of the effect showed the aurora seeming to rain through the clouds above Iceland. Rays from this aurora shone near Goðafoss Waterfall, which is about about 45 minutes from Akureyri, the second-largest city in Iceland. The shining northern lights were generated by a moderate-sized solar storm, associated with an explosion of solar particles witnessed by satellites. The sunspot that exploded was poetically dubbed "dead" because...

On Sunday, a strong shortwave radio blackout occurred over southeast Asia and Australia due to a solar flare hurled from the sun. Seems like Solar activity is again picking up pace after a geomagnetic storm hit earth. It is interrupted that the sun is likely to erupt with more flares this week. The X1 class flare was accompanied by a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from a cluster of active sunspots that have produced significant flaring prior to appearing on the eastern limb of the sun. CMEs are huge bubbles of radiation and particles from the sun. They explode into space...

The explosion comes courtesy of a dead sunspot called AR2987.... The sunspot explosion released loads of energy in the form of radiation, which also led to a coronal mass ejection (CME) — explosive balls of solar material — both of which could spur more intense northern lights in Earth's upper atmosphere. The material in that CME is likely to impact Earth on April 14... The idea of a "dead" sunspot is more poetic than scientific, said Philip Judge, a solar physicist at the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), but the convection of the sun...

A solar storm will sweep across the Earth Wednesday night, raising prospects of dazzling Northern Lights visible as far south as Chicago while prompting airlines and electric-grid operators to step up monitoring of the potentially damaging geomagnetic activity. Solar eruptions—called coronal mass ejections—burst from the sun in two waves Monday and are building up enough energy to potentially become a level 3 geomagnetic storm when it hits, according to Rob Steenburgh, a space scientist with the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center. Solar storms, like hurricanes, are ranked on a five-step scale, with one being the weakest and five the strongest....

Composite image of solar prominence on 31 August 2012. (NASA/SDO/GSFC) The dazzling northern lights could light up the skies as far south as the northern United States after the detection of 17 solar eruptions blasting from a single sunspot, two of which are headed straight to Earth. The two Earth-directed eruptions have merged into a "cannibal coronal mass ejection" and are barreling toward us at 1,881,263 miles per hour (3,027,599 kilometers per hour). When it crashes into the Earth's magnetic field on the night of March 30, the result will be a powerful G3 geomagnetic storm, according to The National...

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G3-CLASS): Strong G3-class geomagnetic storms are possible during the early UT hours of March 31st when a Cannibal CME is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. During such storms, naked-eye auroras can descend into the USA as far south as, e.g., Illinois and Oregon (geomagnetic latitude 50o). North Americans should be alert for auroras after local nightfall on March 30th. The hours before dawn on March 31st are probably best for Europeans. Aurora alerts: SMS Text. X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: Earth-orbiting satellites have just detected an X1.3-class solar flare (March 30 @ 1737 UT). The source is active...

A powerful solar storm is set to hit Earth on Thursday (March 31) with spectacular aurora displays accompanying it after the sun fired nearly 20 flares from a single sunspot in just two days. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warned that two coronal mass ejections (CMEs), spat out from the overactive sunspot AR2975, on Monday (March 28), are heading toward our planet and might trigger a geomagnetic storm rated as G3 on NOAA's five-point scale.

A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from the Sun has begun to impact the Earth, prompting NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) to issue a warning that a G1-class geomagnetic storm has arrived with a K-index of 5. In the latest update from the SWPC, they say the area of impact will primarily be poleward of 60 degrees Geomagnetic Latitude. In this region, weak power grid fluctuations can occur on Earth. In space, minor impact on satellite operations are possible. Elsewhere, Mother Nature may light up the skies more south than usual; aurora could be visible at high latitudes across the...

The Sun is continuing its rowdy behavior, with flares and coronal mass ejections almost every day since mid-January. That means the inevitable has happened: some of those eruptions have blasted in the general direction of Earth, which means we're in for some solar storms. The Space Weather Prediction Center of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the British Met Office have both issued advisories for mild and moderate geomagnetic storms over the next couple of days. That doesn't mean we have anything to worry about; in fact, we've already been hit by mild and moderate geomagnetic storms...

The flare is expected to produce geomagnetic storms when it hits our planet late on Sunday or early Monday morning, making it possible to spot the spectacular sight – and cloud cover is forecast as relatively minimal overnight, making it even easier to catch the light show. ...satellite images showed the flare – also known as a coronal mass ejection, or CME – leaving the sun on Saturday. “The large CME has been analysed and is expected to have an Earth directed component, which is expected to arrive either late on March 13 or early March 14.” ...could interfere with...

Astronomers have discovered black widows and redbacks in space. While these cosmic objects don't kill and eat their mates, the stars share their eight-legged counterparts' violent behavior toward companions. In addition to the run-of-the-mill spider stars, the researchers also discovered a bizarre black widow-redback crossbreed. The scientists used the now-destroyed Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico to discover the weirdo stars. Spider stars are types of millisecond pulsars, or neutron stars that act like precise clocks in the sky, whirling around at least once every 30 milliseconds and flashing like a lighthouse with each rotation. Neutron stars, the tiny, compressed cores...

A major eruption on the far side of the sun Tuesday created one of the largest coronal mass ejections (CME) in recent years, KTLA sister station KOIN reports. Though the explosive CME is not expected to strike Earth, images captured by satellite and seismic mapping showing the sheer size of the eruption had many people talking... Todd said scientists estimate the flare stretched to roughly 400,000 kilometers... CME events of this magnitude are caused when the negative and positive charges within the electromagnetic field on the sun contradict, resulting in a powerful discharge or sunspots. CME events and sun flares...

Ancient Earth was hit by extreme 'hothouse' periods of intense dryness, followed by massive rainstorms, a new study reveals. These rainstorms were hundreds of miles wide and could dump more than a foot of rain in a matter of hours, Harvard University scientists report.... ... for multiple periods in Earth's history, our planet experienced hothouse' periods' that were around 20°F to 30°F hotter than it is today. Earth likely experienced these periods multiple times in its distant past and will experience them again hundreds of millions of years from now as the sun continues to brighten, say they team, who...

M-class solar flares are medium-sized space weather events that can cause temporary radio blackouts on Earth, according to the European Space Agency. The burst, which came from a sunspot called AR2936, was especially long-lasting, enduring for more than four hours, astronomer Tony Phillips reported at Spaceweather.com. This outburst is a type of CME known as a "halo CME," which appears larger than the sun in coronagraph images obtained by sungazing spacecraft as the solar particles approach Earth, appearing like a circular halo.