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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green and yellow auroras in the sky

Rare 'backward' sunspot could create supercharged auroras this week

By Robert Lea published

It's believed that only 3% of all sunspots display reverse polarity as this one does.

Spectacular auroras over Alaska on Valentine's Day 2023.

Powerful sun storm could supercharge auroras this week

By Stefanie Waldek published

The sun fired a huge cloud of plasma directly at Earth on Sunday evening (May 7), an outburst that could boost auroras in the next day or so.

The sun's spotty face photographed in July 2009 by NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).

Solar activity may peak 1 year earlier than thought. Here is what it means for us

By Tereza Pultarova published

The sun may reach the peak of its current solar cycle in 2024, one year ahead of official predictions, new research reveals. But solar mayhem may still occur in the next five years.

A full-disk view of the sun as it unleashed a major X1.1 class solar flare from an active sunspot cluster on April 17, 2022. This view was taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

This new AI-powered computer model can predict dangerous solar storms

By Stefanie Waldek published

A new AI-powered computer model is trained to predict when and where solar storms will strike Earth, giving us time to prepare infrastructure that could be impacted, such as the power grid.

An X-flare seen flashing on the sun by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

'Hole' in the sun and powerful X1.2 solar flare threaten space weather mayhem

By Tereza Pultarova published

A powerful solar flare knocked out radio communications on Earth last night in what space weather forecasters fear might be the beginning of a spell of rough space weather in the coming days.

Green band of aurora light in the sky above a rural building.

Strongest solar storm in nearly 6 years slams into Earth catching forecasters by surprise

By Daisy Dobrijevic published

A stealthy solar storm surprised forecasters, causing spaceflight delays and incredible aurora displays as far south as New Mexico.

treeline with green auroras just above and red auroras reaching into the sky. a snowy landscape covers the front

A colossal 'hole' in the sun's atmosphere could supercharge Earth's auroras on March 24

By Elizabeth Howell published

A 'hole' in the sun's upper atmosphere may soon generate another geomagnetic storm here on Earth, creating auroras in places farther from the poles than usual.

A solar tornado as tall as 14 Earths emerged above the sun's North Pole in March, 2023.

Huge solar tornado as tall as 14 Earths hurls plasma cloud into space. Here's the video.

By Tereza Pultarova published

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured what might be 'the tallest tornado' in the solar system swirling across the north pole of the sun.

Purple aurora glow seen above the horizon from California's Death Valley.

Gorgeous auroral glow surprises astrophotographer in California's Death Valley

By Tereza Pultarova published

The powerful solar storm that struck Earth earlier this week treated an American astrophotographer to unexpected aurora displays during a shooting trip to California's Death Valley.

A strong geomagnetic storm triggered stunning aurora displays across northern Europe and North America on Feb. 27, 2023.

Powerful solar storm delays SpaceX rocket launch, stalls oil rigs in Canada amid aurora-palooza

By Tereza Pultarova published

A solar storm that swept across Earth on Monday (Feb. 27) forced SpaceX to delay a Starlink launch and temporarily disrupted operations of several Canadian oil rigs.

A clip of the X-class flare erupting from the sun on Feb. 17 followed by a 'solar tsunami' that is visible as a faint shockwave in the surrounding region.

Powerful X-class flare spat out a rare 'solar tsunami,' and you can hear it smashing into Earth

By Harry Baker published

The sun recently spat out an X-class solar flare, one of the most powerful it can emit, which triggered a rare shockwave across the sun's surface and caused radio blackouts on Earth.

An X2.2-class solar flare erupts from the sun on Feb. 17, 2023.

Sun unleashes massive X2-class solar flare during geomagnetic storm watch (video)

By Tariq Malik published

A massive solar flare erupted from the sun on Friday (Feb. 17) as the Earth was under a geomagnetic storm watch from flares earlier in the week.

The sun's surface is roiling with convection cells.

Physicists mimic gravity inside the sun using sound waves

By Keith Cooper published

The acoustically generated force will help astronomers better understand the sun's photosphere and the causes of space weather.

An X1.1-class solar flare erupts from the sun on Feb. 11, 2023.

The sun just erupted with a major X-class solar flare. Here's what it looked like on video.

By Tariq Malik published

A major solar flare erupted from the erupted from the sun on Saturday (Feb. 11) and a NASA spacecraft caught it on video.

The sulfur plasma being constrained by sound waves inside the tiny glass bulb.

Miniature sun with simulated gravity could help prepare us for deadly solar storms

By Ben Turner published

The tiny sun used sound waves to simulate the sun's swirling mass of plasma

Two coronal holes, areas with disrupted magnetic field, are visible on the face of the sun in this satellite image.

Holes in sun's atmosphere can help predict space weather on Earth

By Tereza Pultarova published

Magnetic properties of coronal holes in the sun's atmosphere can help forecast the severity of geomagnetic storms that hit Earth.

Austrian astrophotographer Michael Jäger captured this image of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) showing a disconnection in its tail.

Brilliant green comet loses part of its tail to solar storm in this stunning astrophotographer photo

By Tereza Pultarova published

An image taken by an Austrian comet hunter reveals a disconnection in Comet's C/2022 E3 (ZTF) tail that may have been caused by turbulent space weather.

An illustration shows a coronal mass ejection bursting out of the sun, then striking Earth's magnetosphere.

We finally know why mysterious waves appear to survive the journey through Earth's turbulent 'shock' region

By Robert Lea published

When solar winds bombard Earth's magnetosphere, they create waves that shouldn't be able to traverse a turbulent region called the shock. New research demonstrates how this appears to happen.

Two major sunspot groups tracked across the surface of the sun between Dec. 2 and Dec. 27, 2022 in this mosaic created by Şenol Şanlı..

Incredible time-lapse photo captures the sun during an 8-year sunspot peak

By Harry Baker published

A new time-lapse image shows two major sunspot groups moving across the surface of the sun in December 2022, when the number of solar splotches also skyrocketed to an eight-year high.

Bright explosion off the surface of the sun spews plasma into space.

Solar flare hat trick: Sun unleashes another powerful X-flare in less than a week!

By Daisy Dobrijevic published

The sun has fired off its third powerful X-class solar flare in less than a week, scoring an explosive hat trick.