Solar Storm

Home News Science & Astronomy (Image credit: Svein-Magne Tunli - tunliweb.no/Wikimedia, CC BY-NC-SA) Skywatchers, get set for a storm from the sun — and hopefully an ensuing display of the northern lights. After a dead sunspot hurled a ball of plasma, or superheated gas, toward Earth earlier this week, medium-sized…

The star of our solar system, the Sun, has again exploded with a geomagnetic storm. On April 11, 2022, the dead sunspot AR2987 exploded, leading to coronal mass ejections (CME). NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the eruptions. This geomagnetic storm is pushing plasma and high-intensity energy toward the inner planets.…

Home News Science & Astronomy Typical amounts of solar particles hitting the earth’s magnetosphere can be beautiful, but too much could be catastrophic. (Image credit: Svein-Magne Tunli - tunliweb.no/Wikimedia, CC BY-NC-SA) This article was originally published at The Conversation. (opens in new tab) The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed…

Home News Science & Astronomy The sun occasionally ejects large amounts of energy and particles into space that can smash into Earth. (Image credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO via WikimediaCommons) This article was originally published at The Conversation (opens in new tab). The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. On Feb.…

Northern lights were pictured across upper U.S. regions on Thursday morning after a solar eruption caused a strong geomagnetic storm. The famous shimmering lights, also called auroras, were photographed in states such as North and South Dakota, Montana, and Washington. Space weather experts had predicted increased auroral activity earlier this…

Home News Science & Astronomy At least 17 solar eruptions from a single sunspot on the sun have blasted into space in recent days, including some charged particles that may create a colorful sky show on Earth. The sun eruptions originated from an overactive sunspot, called AR2975, which has been…

A geomagnetic storm is due to hit Earth this Thursday, and it could spark some shimmering northern lights in the U.S. On Monday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued a notice stating that a geomagnetic storm watch was in effect for March 31. It's…

PhotoVisions/Shutterstock The sun is going through a period of increased activity, it seems, and that could mean geomagnetic storms here on Earth. NOAA has issued moderate and minor geomagnetic storm watches for this week, and while that sounds a little intimidating at first blush, those of us here on the…

by Jeff Foust — February 21, 2022 A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts off Feb. 21 carrying 46 Starlink satellites. Credit: Space Launch Delta 45 WASHINGTON — SpaceX launched a set of Starlink satellites Feb. 21 after more than three-fourths of the satellites from the previous launch were lost because of…

File photo of a stack of Starlink satellites before a previous launch. Credit: SpaceX A Falcon 9 rocket will launch SpaceX’s next batch of Starlink internet satellites Monday into a higher, more circular orbit than recent flights, reducing potential risks from a solar storm like the one that destroyed at…