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Space Weather

See our amazing collection of stories and features about the increasingly important topic of space weather (aka solar storms).

Related Topics: Solar Eclipse, Aurora Borealis 

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A solar storm, or coronal mass ejection (CME), erupts from the sun in August 2012.

An 'Internet apocalypse' could ride to Earth with the next solar storm, new research warns

By Brandon Specktor

A catastrophic solar storm could take huge sections of the Earth offline for weeks or months, a new research paper warns.

cires sun's middle corona

Scientists' 1st-ever view of sun's middle corona could sharpen space weather forecasts

By Samantha Mathewson

Recent telescope views shed new light on the sun's elusive middle corona that could prove beneficial to space weather forecasts.

The European/Japanese spacecraft BepiColombo has taken a selfie with Venus during its close flyby at the planet in August 2021.

BepiColombo spacecraft records the sound of solar wind at Venus

By Tereza Pultarova

The Mercury-bound BepiColombo spacecraft recorded the sound of the solar wind at Venus as it flew just 340 miles above the planet during a maneuver designed to adjust its path.

The aurora shimmered in the night sky over Tromsø, Norway, on Jan. 9, 2014, after a coronal mass ejection arrived in near-Earth space, following a two-day journey from the sun.

Northern lights (aurora borealis): What they are and how to see them

By Stefanie Waldek

Learn all about the northern lights, including the science behind their colors, the display's ancient history and how to see the phenomenon.

Aurora Over Abisko National Park in Sweden

Where to see the northern lights: 2021 aurora borealis guide

By Mike Wall, Elizabeth Howell

Where should you go to get the best look at the dancing, dazzling display known as the aurora borealis?

A dune-like aurora borealis.

Space weather is difficult to predict — with only an hour to prevent disasters on Earth

By Martin Gerard Connors

Recent developments at the forefront of astronomy allow us to observe that planets orbiting other stars have weather.

The sun erupts with a powerful X1.5-class solar flare on July 3, 2021, the most powerful in 4 years, in this view from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. The flare appears at the top right of the view.

Sun erupts with biggest solar flare in 4 years in early Fourth of July fireworks (video)

By Tariq Malik

The sun erupted with a surprise solar flare on Saturday (July 3), the largest since 2017, in an early explosion of cosmic fireworks ahead of the Fourth of July.

An image compiles views of a coronal mass ejection from three different instruments on the Solar Orbiter spacecraft. The footage was captured Feb. 12 and Feb. 13, 2021.

Solar Orbiter captures its 1st video of eruption on the sun

By Meghan Bartels

A sun-studying spacecraft nabbed its first footage of a solar outburst before its science mission has officially begun.

mars dust storm

7 solar system worlds where the weather is crazy

By Jonathan O'Callaghan, Daisy Dobrijevic, How It Works magazine

What's the weather like on other worlds? Expect methane rain, global haboobs and a 10,000-mile-wide hurricane.

The evolution of a solar campfire and its magnetic field as generated by a computer simulation.

Mysterious heating of sun's corona powered by solar 'campfires,' study suggests

By Tereza Pultarova

The mysterious heating of the sun’s corona might be powered by miniature solar flares dubbed 'campfires,' discovered by the European-US Solar Orbiter mission last year, a new study suggests.

Artist's conception of a violent flare erupting from the star Proxima Centauri.

Proxima Centauri shoots out humongous flare, with big implications for alien life

By Harry Baker

Scientists have detected the largest stellar flare ever recorded from Proxima Centauri. The finding changes what we know about stellar flares and the potential for alien life around red dwarfs.

Space Situational Awareness program

How are asteroids, space weather and space debris detected before they hit Earth?

By Andrew May, How It Works magazine

The European Space Agency’s Space Situational Awareness program is tackling the problem on three fronts.

This snapshot from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows a stunning prominence associated with a Sept. 8, 2010 solar flare.

Why we need to get better at predicting space weather

By Rami Qahwaji

The Sun is the most important source of energy for sustaining life on Earth, but it gives us a lot more than just light and heat.

Zodiacal light glows in the sky at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal Observatory in Chile. Image released Dec. 2, 2013.

Mars dust storms may cause mysterious 'zodiacal light' in Earth's night sky

By Samantha Mathewson

NASA's Juno spacecraft has detected interplanetary particles from Martian dust storms, which may cause the faint column of zodiacal light that extends up from the horizon.

Artist's concept of a space hurricane, pouring plasma high over the North Pole.

First-ever 'space hurricane' detected over the North Pole

By Brandon Specktor

Astronomers detected the first-known 'space hurricane' raging over the North Pole for 8 hours in 2014, a new study found.

An artist's depiction of NASA's Parker Solar Probe gathering data about the sun.

NASA Parker Solar Probe nails close flyby of sun as its space weather cycle ramps up

By Meghan Bartels

NASA's Parker Solar Probe spacecraft kicked off the new year with another close approach to the sun on Sunday (Jan. 17) as the sun's activity picks up from a lull when the probe launched.

Artist's concept showing DG CVn — a binary system consisting of two red dwarf stars — unleashing a series of powerful flares seen by NASA's Swift spacecraft on April 23, 2014.

Bad space weather may make life impossible near Proxima Centauri

By Andrew Zic, Tara Murphy

If you look up in the southern sky you can see the “pointer” stars, pointing towards the Southern Cross.

The most powerful solar flare in over three years erupted on Nov. 29, 2020.

The sun fires off its biggest solar flare in more than 3 years

By Chelsea Gohd

The sun unleashed its most powerful solar eruption in more than three years on Sunday (Nov. 29).

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft captured this view of several large sunspots in November 2020.

A Thanksgiving sun treat: Big sunspot rotates into view

By Elizabeth Howell

A group of sunspots has emerged on the Earth-facing side of the sun, just in time for Thanksgiving.

A split image shows the sun during a solar cycle's maximum on the left (April 2014) and during a solar cycle's minimum on the right (December 2019).

The sun has begun a new solar weather cycle. It should be pretty quiet, scientists say.

By Meghan Bartels

We're officially nine months into solar cycle 25, scientists have confirmed, and it will likely look much like its predecessor, which ran from 2008 to 2019.