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a bright white arc of light erupts from the right edge of the sun

7 years ago today, the sun unleashed a record-breaking solar flare

By Ryan French published

As August 2024 set another 20-year high for sunspots, recent solar flares have yet to top two solar flares from September 2017 that still hold unbroken records.

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fiery swirls of plasma on the sun's surface

Watch a 100,000-mile-high tower of plasma erupt from the sun in this stunning video

By Brett Tingley published

Astrophotographer Mark Johnston got a front row seat to an epic fireworks show when he filmed a 100,000-mile-high tower of plasma erupting from the sun.

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Abrupt reversals of the sun's magnetic field called switchbacks pump enough energy into the solar wind to accelerate it to unexpectedly high speeds.

Lucky alignment of 2 spacecraft reveals how solar wind gets a magnetic push

By Sharmila Kuthunur published

Energy-packed plasma waves pump enough energy into streams of solar wind to propel them to their unexpectedly high speeds, observations by two sun-studying spacecraft suggest.

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a fiery eruption from the sun envelopes earth and a t-shaped spacecraft orbiting above it

'A lot has changed': NOAA is rewriting the book on how to rank solar storms

By Meredith Garofalo published

NOAA is researching how to update its Space Weather Scales and how it can better communicate its space weather forecasts with the public and government agencies.

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An image of the sun in space.

The sun hides its age with magnetic activity

By Keith Cooper published

Measurements of the sun's age via oscillations that ripple through it can vary depending on whether those measurements are made near solar minimum or maximum.

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A record number of sunspots on the sun as seen on Aug. 8, 2024 by a NASA spacecraft.

The sun might've just had a record-breaking number of visible sunspots

By Meredith Garofalo published

For the first time in more than 20 years, the daily record for sunspots is likely to be broken during Solar Cycle 25.

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An arc of the sun rises from the bottom. Above a dark central spot near the top, pink rippons hang suspended above against a black background.

Intense solar storm opens '2-way highway' for charged particles, sparking rare auroras on the sun

By Sharmila Kuthunur published

Auroras on Earth occur when storms from our sun engulf our planet. In a rare cosmic feat last April, our planet returned the favor.

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gif animation showing the sun's surface just before the x-flare eruption.

Colossal X-class solar flare erupts from 'rule-breaking' sunspot and Earth is in the firing line (video)

By Daisy Dobrijevic last updated

Watch a colossal X-class solar flare erupt from the sun's highly magnetized 'rule-breaking' sunspot.

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an image of the fiery surface of the sun, with a bright white spot in the lower right corner of the sun's disk

Sun unleashes X-class solar flare, blasts 3rd coronal mass ejection toward Earth in a week (video)

By Meredith Garofalo published

Active sunspot AR3777 fired off the strongest of its three solar flares this week, sending another CME to impact Earth this weekend with a possible geomagnetic storm.

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A silver and gold trumpet like spacecraft directed at the edge of a glowing orange sphere

NASA's Parker Solar Probe finds fresh clues to decades-old mystery surrounding the sun

By Sharmila Kuthunur last updated

In its search for answers to why our sun's corona is hotter than its surface, NASA's Parker Solar Probe has ruled out one explanation.

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