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Space Weather, Solar Flares & Sun Storms: Latest News
See our amazing collection of stories and features about the increasingly important topic of space weather (aka solar storms).
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A huge Earth-facing sunspot - Active Region 1520 - unleased an X1.4-class solar flare on July 12, 2012. A coronal mass ejection could be speeding towards Earth to cause geomagnetic havoc.
The huge solar flare marked the second X-class sun storm in a week.
Sprites are ultra-fast bursts of electricity extending to the edge of space.
The odd clapping noise is generated just 230 feet or so Earth's surface, researchers say.
Energetic particles that cause the Aurora Borealis "northern lights" may also be responsible for an odd clapping sound heard by some observers.
Threatening for days to unleash the most powerful class of solar flare, sunspot AR1515 erupted with an X-1.1 flare on July 6th, 2012. Captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
The giant sunspot AR1515 unleashed a powerful X1.1 solar flare, the strongest for the summer season.
The sun's unceasing activity affects our planet beyond providing obvious light and heat.
The sun unleashed a powerful M5.6-class solar flare from sunspot AR1515 on July 4, 2012, just in time for the Fourth of July celebrations marking the U.S. Independence Day holiday.
See images solar flares erupting from sunspot AR1515 in July 2012.
The flare came from an active sunspot region that has now spewed 12 solar flares since July 3.
Seeing spots on the sun has a long history. Check out some great sunspot photos.
The sun is firing off some fireworks of its own on the Fourth of July.
The sun let loose with a M5.6-class solar flare on July 2.
Sunspot AR1515 unleashed an M5.6 flare on July 2nd, 2012. The resulting coronal mass ejection (CME) may cause geomagnetic storms on Earth in coming days.
A strong flare erupted from sunspot AR1513 on June 29th, 2012 and the Solar Dynamics Observatory was on hand to record it with its ultraviolet camera. This time-lapse is looped and slowed for a close-up view.
The astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to study the planet's atmosphere.
The Hubble Space Telescope has seen a burst of evaporation in the upper atmosphere of exoplanet HD 189733b following a intense flare from its parent star - leading scientists to believe that the extreme x-ray radiation from the flare is the culprit.
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