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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This colorized image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory space telescope shows a powerful solar flare blasting from the sun on March 31, 2022.

The sun let out another flare and the photos are stunning

By Tereza Pultarova last updated

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured yet another solar flare blasting from the same overactive sunspot that triggered radio blackouts and stunning aurora displays on Earth earlier this week.

The sun occasionally ejects large amounts of energy and particles into space that can smash into Earth.

Solar storms can destroy satellites with ease — a space weather expert explains the science

By Piyush Mehta last updated

Geomagnetic storms occur when space weather hits and interacts with Earth. Space weather is caused by fluctuations within the sun that blast electrons, protons and other particles into space.

Auroras are usually visibly above polar regions but during intense geomagnetic storms the spectacle intensifies and can be visible from farther afield.

Sunspot outbursts likely to trigger more radio blackouts and auroras in coming days

By Tereza Pultarova last updated

The sun is waking up and we are experiencing the effects on Earth as disruptive radio blackouts and stunning aurora displays.

The sun produced an X-class flare on March 30, 2022; this data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the extreme ultraviolet light of the flare in yellow.

A hyperactive sunspot just hurled a huge X-class solar flare into space

By Elizabeth Howell last updated

The X-class flare caused a shortwave radio blackout, and it's possible we'll see auroras in the coming days.

NOAA's G GOES-16 satellite captured the eruption, the white area near the top and center of the image, that occurred around 7:29 a.m. EDT on March 28.

Earth braces for solar storm, potential aurora displays

By Tereza Pultarova published

A powerful solar storm is set to hit Earth on Thursday with spectacular aurora displays accompanying it after the sun fired nearly 20 flares from a single sun spot in just two days.

One of 17 different flares from an active sunspot AR 2975 shines bright in this image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory taken on March 28-29, 2022.

Sun erupts with 17 flares from single sunspot, sending solar storms toward Earth

By Elizabeth Howell last updated

An overactive sunspot erupted with 17 different flares since Monday (March 28) and could amp up Earth's auroras.

A NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory image of the sun.

Strange new type of solar wave defies physics

By Ben Turner published

Scientists think this could also help to explain mysterious phenomena on Earth.

A NASA-funded sounding rocket launches into an aurora in the early morning of March 3, 2014, over Venetie, Alaska. NASA will launch a similar small sounding rocket in late March 2022.

NASA set to launch 2 rockets into the northern lights

By Stephanie Pappas last updated

Researchers plan to launch two rockets into the heart of the northern lights. Here's what they might find.

A coronal mass ejection unleashes a prominence out of the sun's outermost atmosphere in this 2010 NASA file photo.

2 geomagnetic storms will lash Earth, but don't worry (too much)

By Brandon Specktor last updated

Two mild geomagnetic storms are expected to hit Earth on March 14 and 15 after a large coronal outburst, NOAA warns.

The northern lights 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 & how to see them

By Stefanie Waldek last updated

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

The red line indicates the path of NASA's Parker Solar Probe across the face of the Sun, as seen from Earth, from Feb. 24-27, 2022.

When NASA's Parker Solar Probe flew close by the sun, telescopes were watching from Earth and space

By Elizabeth Howell published

Telescopes on Earth and in space caught the sun in their view as the Parker Solar Probe made its 11th daring close flyby Feb. 25.

As Parker Solar Probe flew by Venus on its fourth flyby, its WISPR instrument captured these images, strung into a video, showing the nightside surface of the planet.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe has captured the first visible-light images of Venus

By Elizabeth Howell published

The visible-light imagery will tell scientists more about the geology and minerals of Venus.

An artist's illustration of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites in orbit.

Solar geomagnetic storms could threaten more satellites after Elon Musk's Starlink

By Chelsea Gohd last updated

SpaceX will lose 40 Starlink satellites to a geomagnetic storm as solar activity ramps up. But does this spell disaster for the future of satellites in space?

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 49 Starlink internet satellites into orbit from Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Feb. 3, 2022.

SpaceX says a geomagnetic storm just doomed 40 Starlink internet satellites

By Tariq Malik published

SpaceX is losing 40 new Starlink internet satellites due to a geomagnetic storm.

A powerful solar flare captured in 2010 by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Ancient solar storm smashed Earth at the wrong part of the sun's cycle — and scientists are concerned

By Brandon Specktor last updated

An extremely powerful solar storm pummeled our planet 9,200 years ago, leaving permanent scars on the ice buried deep below Greenland and Antarctica.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spotted a solar flare on Jan. 20, 2022.

NASA catches sun sending powerful flare into space

By Elizabeth Howell last updated

Our sun just had a medium-sized energy burp.

A view of Comet Leonard as seen over Australia.

Comet Leonard puts on a final, spectacular display with ion tail in solar wind

By Meghan Bartels last updated

Comet Leonard is slipping out of view, but not without putting on one last show.

These nine images show coronal streamers on the sun, bright structures in the sun's corona normally seen only in solar eclipses, as spotted by NASA's Parker Solar Probe as it flew through the sun's outer atmosphere.

Watch 'coronal streamers' streak off the sun in close-up video from Parker Solar Probe

By Elizabeth Howell published

A new video of solar streamers evokes the streaking stars seen during spacecraft hyperdrives in "Star Wars."

has to pass through the Van Allen radiation belts, a risky environment for its electronics.

Here's the space weather forecast for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope launch

By Tereza Pultarova last updated

Space weather could derail the James Webb Space Telescope launch tomorrow. But so far, all seems in favour for tomorrow's big day.

Aurora Over Abisko National Park in Sweden

Where to see the northern lights: 2022 aurora borealis guide

By Mike Wall, Elizabeth Howell, Tereza Pultarova last updated

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