Solar Storm

Scientists may have found a way to investigate the curious processes that accelerate solar particles to tremendous speeds. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — huge eruptions of superheated plasma — are two of the most energetic processes seen in the solar system.  Earth's magnetic field protects us from…

Home News Science & Astronomy A simulation of an enormous solar flare and coronal mass ejection (CME) blasting out of the sun. Such a storm may have contributed to the rise of life on Earth, new research suggests. (Image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center)Life on Earth could have been…

MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer April 24, 2023Updated: April 24, 2023 4:05 p.m. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 1of12An aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, is seen in the night sky in the early morning hours of Monday, April 24, 2023, near Washtucna, Wash.…

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There’s enough trouble on this planet already that we don’t need new problems coming here from the sun. Unfortunately, we can’t yet destroy this pitiless star, so we are at its mercy. But NASA at least may soon be able to let us know when one of its murderous flares…

The band of light illuminated the skies above Denmark on March 23. (Image credit: Ruslan Merzlyakov)A bright red streak of light appeared in the sky above parts of Scandinavia last week after a surprise solar storm smashed into Earth and triggered stunning auroras across the planet. But the bright red…

Home News Skywatching Magnificent polar light displays in Ontario, Canada. (Image credit: Yu Ruidong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images) A surprise solar storm supercharged auroras across the U.S. and Europe last night (March 23), with sightings of the colorful displays reported from as far south as New Mexico and Arizona.…

Home News Photographer Dakota Snider caught the auroras from his airplane window, while his fellow passengers slept early Friday morning. (Image credit: Dakota Snider) The strongest solar storm to hit Earth for six years sparked stunning auroras across the U.S., with intense light displays appearing as far south as Alabama…

One of the North's greatest draws and most iconic phenomena could spell trouble for a growing renewable energy sector. Solar storms that produce vibrant northern lights also create an electrical current in the ground that can cause transformers — a component of traditional energy infrastructure — to overheat. Transformers increase or decrease the voltage of electricity…

Spacecraft monitoring the Sun for potentially deadly solar storms have been degrading – and now scientists think they've worked out why. Boffins at America's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) have spent years trying to figure…