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Giant sunspot that triggered recent solar 'superstorm' shot out nearly 1,000 flares and a secret X-rated explosion, record-breaking study revealsThe massive sunspot that sparked an "extreme" geomagnetic storm in May 2024 unleashed hundreds of other dangerous solar flares, including a hidden X-class outburst, a new paper reveals. The study sets a record for the longest continuous observation of a single active region on our home star.
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Giant sunspot on par with the one that birthed the Carrington Event has appeared on the sun — and it's pointed right at EarthA massive new sunspot complex, dubbed AR 4294-4296, has emerged on the sun and is facing directly at Earth. The dark patch is on par with the infamous sunspot that birthed the 1859 Carrington Event — but, for now, it's staying quiet.
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'The sun is slowly waking up': NASA warns that there may be more extreme space weather for decades to comeA new NASA study suggests that solar activity will remain high or rise further in the coming decades, contradicting previous assumptions that the sun was quieting down — and scientists "don't completely understand" why.
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Auroras may be visible from 18 states this weekend as solar storm barrels toward EarthA geomagnetic storm could hit Earth Aug. 8 or 9, possibly bringing the dazzling northern lights with it.
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Giant 'senior citizen' sunspot on 3rd trip around the sun could break a century-old recordA large sunspot has just reappeared on the sun's Earth-facing surface, almost two months after it first emerged. The unusually old dark patch remains stable and could be on course to become the longest-lived sunspot on record, experts claim.
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Sun quiz: How well do you know our home star?Quiz Test your knowledge on the giant ball of burning gas at the heart of the solar system.
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Invisible 'flickering' on the sun could predict potentially dangerous solar flares hours in advanceImages captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory have revealed that "coronal loops" give off subtle flashes of ultraviolet light before a solar flare, which could act as an early warning system for dangerous space weather.
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X-class solar flares hit a new record in 2024 and could spike further this year — but the sun isn't entirely to blame, experts sayThere were significantly more X-class solar flares in 2024 than any other year for at least three decades. The arrival of solar maximum was a key reason for the spike, but other factors were also at play.
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'Like they were demon possessed': Geomagnetic super storms are causing tractors to dance from side to side across US farms — and the sun is to blamePowerful solar storms in May and October painted auroras across large parts of North America. But some U.S. farmers also witnessed unusual activity from their high-tech machinery, which started boogying back and forth as a result of the geomagnetic disturbances.
