solar storms

Jupiter’s Northern Lights Look Absolutely Incredible

If you want to see beautiful auroras, forget Alaska, Canada, and Iceland—check out Jupiter. At the gas giant’s north pole, the most powerful and luminous northern lights in the solar system shimmer and glow in an endless geomagnetic storm that’s larger than our entire planet. Jupiter’s glorious auroras—caused by the gas giant’s enormous magnetic field…

The US is Finally Heeding Warnings About a Monster Solar Storm

We’re all too familiar with the dangers posed by earthquakes, droughts, and hurricanes. But there’s another natural phenomena that represents a growing threat to our tech-driven society, and that’s space weather. And at long last, the US government seems to be taking the issue seriously. Space weather scientists at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and…

How The Carrington Event Let Telegraphs Run on Aurora Power

The Carrington Event of 1859 has become a kind of sun-powered bogeyman. It was a solar storm that, today, would disrupt nearly every society in the world. In 1859, all did was to make for some very strange telegraph conversations. In early September of 1859, the telegraph was still a relatively new invention, but it…

An “Extreme” Solar Flare Is Blasting Its Way to Our Planet

There has been a giant magnetic explosion on the sun. A solar flare that scientists have classified as “extreme” is blasting its way towards our planet and could hit as early as Thursday. Solar flares, as Gizmodo’s Jamie Condliffe explains, are a result of Coronal Mass Ejections — events where the sun spits out huge…

A Massive Solar Superstorm Nearly Blasted The Earth In 2012

Back on July 23, 2012 a furious solar magnetic storm just grazed our planet. Had it erupted just nine days earlier, it would have hit us, causing extensive damage to our technological infrastructure. It would have been a geomagnetic catastrophe the likes of which we’ve never seen. Scientists say the close shave should serve as…

The UK government has announced plans to fund a new 24/7 space-weather forecasting service. As Elizabeth Gibney of Nature News reports, the Met Office warnings will protect satellites and help prevent blackouts on Earth. At a cost of £4.6-million ($7.5-million), the service could also warn of an incoming Carrington storm. Image via NASA.

The Sun has been completely manic this week

It’s been a remarkable week of solar activity. Astronomers recorded several coronal mass ejections this week, including three that are currently hitting the Earth’s magnetic field. An exquisite image of one of this week’s many flares can be seen below. Above video: Unrelated to this week’s solar events, NASA released a spectacular video of a…

Chase solar storms without even leaving your house

The Sun can eject billions of tons of particles at velocities up to a million miles an hour. These solar storms are incredibly difficult to predict, but a recently developed citizen science project lets you help track these storms from right behind your keyboard. Researchers at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich have created Solar Stormwatch,…

How worried should we be about solar storms?

The Sun is entering a period of seriously intense solar activity, releasing huge volleys of charged particles and plasma blobs into space, including the recent Valentine’s Day X-class flare, the most extreme in years. So how much of a threat do these flares really pose, and how prepared are we for a seriously disruptive solar…

For the First Time In Human History We Have a View of the Entire Sun

Until today, NASA was only able to directly view the Earth-facing side of the Sun. We could see solar storms as they happened, but not necessarily as they developed. Now, thanks to STEREO, we can see all sides simultaneously. Our limited view was due to the fact that the Sun’s roughly 27-day rotation hid the…

In This Video, The Entire Earth Could Fit Under The Sun’s Leaping Plasma

Last week, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory showed us the first clips of the Sun’s burning storms. This week, it shows us billions of tons of plasma leaping from the Sun’s surface and splashing down hours (and unfathomable kilometers) later. https://gizmodo.com/watch-the-burning-storms-on-the-surface-of-the-sun-5522442 This time-lapse video of the Sun filmed on April 19 – which covers four hours…

Smart Space Dust Could Save Us From Solar Storms

If scientists gets their way, the first line of defense Earth will have against dangerous space storms will be dust. No, that’s not a weird threat to destroy something; he wants to use dust-sized spacecraft to keep us safe. The miniature spacecraft measure 1 centimeter-square, and weigh less 7.5 milligrams. They were designed by Mason…