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Articles by C. Alex Young
Sun news: Fast solar wind fades, quiet sun returns
Przejdź do treści Twoja BOMEGA Ułóż portal po swojemu. Wybierz tematy, region i źródła. Ustawienia zostają tylko w tej przeglądarce i nie obciążają serwera. KosmosNauka EarthSky 28 września 2026 6 min czytania Czytasz w BOMEGA EarthSky 6 min czytania Udostępnij Czytanie Formularz zgłoszeniowy Opisz problem dotyczący tego materiału. Zgłoszenie zostanie przekazane do weryfikacji. Formularz zostanie przygotowany po otwarciu. Sun news for September 28, 2026.
Severe geomagnetic storm! What happened to the auroras?
Sun View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Ross Stone captured this glowing aurora from the edge of Death Valley National Park last night. Thank you, Ross! Amid a severe geomagnetic storm, expectations were high for stunning auroral displays down to mid-latitudes, but the auroras were weaker and less widespread than expected. Read on to find out why. On the evening of January 18, 2026, the sun unleashed a powerful X1.9 solar flare.
Sun news April 14: Moderate flare and failed filament eruption
Brightest StarsClusters Nebulae GalaxiesSun Help keep EarthSky going with a donation! Your gift to our 501(c)(3) organization will help support educational resources that teach people of all ages about the night sky, our sun, and outer space. ? ? Sun news for Apr 14, 2024: Moderate flare and failed filament eruption ? The east side of the sun continues to be the primary focus of activity. Thanks to an M4.3 flare from AR3637, overall levels are moderate. ?
Why is this sun spacecraft image blinking?
Have you ever visited EarthSky’s daily sun news post? It’s a lot of fun. It changes each day as activity on our local star waxes and wanes (and is especially fun this year because we’re at or near the peak of the sun’s 11-year cycle). And we often include a video presenting spacecraft images of that day’s sun. But sometimes – as in the image at top – we encounter sun images made by spacecraft that appear to blink on and off or go dark in places. What the heck? Why are they blinking?
Sun news: Auroras tonight? Sun-stuff and solar wind incoming
Sun Sun news for October 13. The arrival of fast solar wind from a coronal hole could stir Earth’s geomagnetic field up to G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm levels today. Plus, a glancing blow from a coronal mass ejection (CME) might raise this to G2 (moderate) levels. And that could mean northerly auroras! Image via NOAA. Today’s top story: Fast solar wind is currently streaming to Earth from a coronal hole, or an area of lower density in the sun’s atmosphere.
Sun activity archive for October 2023
Sun Sunspot group AR3474 has grown over the past several days and is now larger than Earth, sitting near the solar disk’s center. This is a great location to throw coronal mass ejections (CMEs) our way, which could then bring geomagnetic storms and auroras! The region showed an increase in flaring after developing a small delta region (meaning it has the potential to produce powerful flares), although it has since lost this region and returned to a minor magnetic complexity.
Sun activity archive for August 2023
Sun Sun activity is low. But our friend the sigmoid, or S-shaped filament, erupted again, producing a bright flare and sending some ejecta into space. And we’ve seen an intricate dance around the sun’s north pole, involving a solar tornado. As described in this article in Science, solar tornados are blisteringly hot and about a thousand times larger than their earthly counterparts. A solar tornado results from the forces in the solar corona flinging a filament around.
Sun causing global warming? 2 reasons why not
Is the sun causing global warming? Solar physicist C. Alex Young – who leads EarthSky’s daily sun news post – says no. Read the quick-and-easy-to-understand explanation here. Original article via NASA. Edits by EarthSky. No. The sun can influence Earth’s climate, but it isn’t responsible for the warming trend we’ve seen over recent decades. We know subtle changes in Earth’s orbit around the sun are responsible for the comings and goings of the ice ages.
Q&A: What is the sun’s role in climate change?
Sun Today we published an article by solar physicist C. Alex Young – who leads EarthSky’s daily sun news post – giving 2 simple reasons why we know the sun isn’t causing global warming. And here’s another article from Alex, answering questions about the sun’s role in climate change, over timescales ranging from years to centuries. Original article by NASA. Edits by EarthSky. The sun powers life on Earth. It helps keep the planet warm enough for us to survive. It also influences Earth’s climate.
Sun causing global warming? 2 reasons why not
Sun Is the sun causing global warming? Solar physicist C. Alex Young – who leads EarthSky’s daily sun news post – says no. Read the quick-and-easy-to-understand explanation here. Original article via NASA. Edits by EarthSky. No. The sun can influence Earth’s climate, but it isn’t responsible for the warming trend we’ve seen over recent decades. We know subtle changes in Earth’s orbit around the sun are responsible for the comings and goings of the ice ages.
Sun activity archive for July 2023
Sun Stay tuned for weekly sun activity reports as the monthly sun archive gets updated throughout July. To view the most recent updates on sun activity, visit our daily sun post! Sun activity for July 16, 2023: Cannibal CME and backside activity The July 14 dark spray coronal mass ejection (CME) event is expected to overtake a July 15 CME. This is often called a cannibal CME. Neither event has a strong Earth-directed component.
The Northern Lights Were Seen Farther South in the United States
James Reynolds was sitting at home scrolling through Twitter on Thursday night, when photos of the aurora borealis started to flood his timeline. Mr. Reynolds, a professional photographer who lives just outside Asheville, N.C., decided to load up his equipment and to drive with his wife and 10-year-old son to the Blue Ridge Parkway, a popular, scenic road about an hour from his home.
What makes a giant sunspot?
Sun Giant sunspot visible this week! A giant sunspot region – labeled AR 3190 – has been crossing the face of the sun this week. If you have a way to protect your eyes – eclipse glasses or solar binoculars – you can see it in your sky. And a strange sight it is! It’s a dark blemish on the sun’s shining disk. What makes a giant sunspot? Sunspots form from concentrations of magnetic fields inside the sun. They build up over time inside the sun and may become buoyant and rise to the surface.
Sun activity: CME arriving today?
SpaceSun June 6 update: CME arriving today? Today’s top sun news: A CME glancing blow from the June 1 filament eruption did not strike yesterday, but is still possible today, June 6, 2022. What does it mean for aurora-watchers? We might have enhanced auroral activity at higher latitudes, with the possibility of auroras popping up at slightly lower latitudes. Clear skies and fingers crossed! Otherwise, overall sun activity remains very low.
Why are east and west on the sun reversed?
Sun When we were children, we learned that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. When we look down on a map, east is to our right and west is on our left. But look at an image of the sun labeled with east and west. Those directions are opposite of what we’re familiar with. Why are these cardinal points reversed? The short answer is: This is the convention astronomers have chosen. But let’s go deeper and find out why.
A Grand Solar Minimum? Or a normal sun?
Sun When the sun is quiet The sun has cycle of activity lasting around 11 years. Overall sunspot numbers typically rise dramatically at the peak of every cycle. Solar Cycle 25 officially began several years ago. And – as of this writing, May 2, 2022 – the sun’s activity is now rising. But the peak of the last solar cycle (Cycle 24) was weirdly quiet, according to observers. Now, although the sun’s qctiivty is rising overall, we do sometimes see several days in a row of quiet, as we did last week.
Sun Looking for the current page on sun activity? Click here. April 24: Sun activity mostly quiet, with 2 filament eruptions This video from Sunday, April 24, 2022, shows minor, but beautiful, sun activity. A filament eruption took place on the sun’s southeast limb. Then another erupted on the southwest of the sun. Both produced coronal mass ejections (CMEs). As described in the tweet above by Edward.Vijayakumar (@edwanx), the southwest eruption might deliver a glancing blow to Earth around April 27.
Sun activity: A strong storm ended this quiet week
Looking for the current page on sun activity? Click here. Gorgeous aurora captured by Christy Turner in Calgary, Alberta on April 10, 2022. Shared by Mizuho Kai. Sun activity for April 4 to 10, 2022 No strong geomagnetic storming was predicted for last night (April 9-10, 2022). But, for a few hours, we had a strong geomagnetic storm anyway. The storm measured G-3 in intensity (“strong,” as described on NOAA’s Space Weather Scales.
Sun activity: Action on the edges of the sun
Today’s top news: Is the sun waking up? We have been waiting for the spewing solar wind from a large coronal hole to light up our magnetic field, but the sun itself has been pretty quiet. That may be about to change. There is a lot of activity on the edges. We can see several large eruptions on the west limb (edge). However, this area will soon rotate completely out of view. But a new region (not yet numbered) in the northeast has been popping off flares and jets over the last 24 hours or so.
Yes, there’s an aurora season, and it’s here
Sun View at EarthSky Community Photos. | JD Smith in Clay County, Minnesota, caught this beautiful image on November 12, 2025. Thank you, JD! Auroras are more frequent around the equinoxes. But why? Read about the aurora season below. Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter. Yes, there is an aurora season, which comes around the fall and spring equinox each year.
Sun activity: 3rd CME sideswipe in a week
Sun activity from March 20, 2022: a solar flare and filament eruption. The eruption produced an EIT wave, Type II radio burst, and a CME that should brush Earth on March 23, 2022. Image via helioviewer.org. Another possible CME sideswipe coming Scientists estimate a CME will give Earth a glancing blow on March 23, 2022, with a possible uptick in auroral activity around that time. Sunspot region AR2971 launched a C4 solar flare and resulting CME at 7:45 UTC on March 20.
Sun activity: Another CME coming, 2 more flares, a radio blackout
A Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) image of the visible sun. It shows sunspots visible from Earth, as of March 15, 2022. A zoomed-in rectangle shows the large sunspot region, AR2965, on March 14. This region produced most of last week’s sun activity. This sunspot region is many times larger than Earth. There is an inset Earth to show this scale.
Sun activity: Glorious auroras from CME direct hit
The sun did not stay quiet during the geomagnetic storm over March 13-14, 2022. While auroras danced overhead on Earth, the sunspot region AR2965 blasted out an M2 solar flare. This moderate flare heated up Earth’s atmosphere creating a minor radio blackout over Africa. Sun news: Mid- to high-latitude auroras Auroras lit up the skies at mid to high latitudes around the world this weekend.
Aurora alert for December 23, after M-class flares
The December 20, 2021 M-class solar flare observed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in extreme ultraviolet light. The flare appears as a bright flash in the lower-middle of the sun. It has prompted an aurora alert. Image via NASA/SDO. Aurora alert! There’s been a small uptick in solar activity over the past two days (December 20 and 21, 2021). The increase comes from the fact that nine sunspot groups (active regions or AR) now pepper the visible face of the sun.
Northern lights from huge solar flare dance across Halloween sky
Northern lights brighten night sky over Alberta, Canada The aurora borealis lit up a starry night sky over Alberta, Canada, in the early hours of Oct. 31, 2021. Credit: Laszlo Szojka via Storyful ALBERTA, Canada - A huge solar flare from the sun sparked a beautiful, eerie glow over parts of the world on Halloween, treating some onlookers to a supercharged northern lights show. The mesmerizing shades of green and violet were captured in the early hours of Oct. 31 for many in northern Canada.
Northern lights from huge solar flare dance across Halloween sky
Northern lights brighten night sky over Alberta, Canada The aurora borealis lit up a starry night sky over Alberta, Canada, in the early hours of Oct. 31, 2021. Credit: Laszlo Szojka via Storyful ALBERTA, Canada - A huge solar flare from the sun sparked a beautiful, eerie glow over parts of the world on Halloween, treating some onlookers to a supercharged northern lights show. The mesmerizing shades of green and violet were captured in the early hours of Oct. 31 for many in northern Canada.
Northern lights from huge solar flare dance across Halloween sky
Northern lights brighten night sky over Alberta, Canada The aurora borealis lit up a starry night sky over Alberta, Canada, in the early hours of Oct. 31, 2021. Credit: Laszlo Szojka via Storyful ALBERTA, Canada - A huge solar flare from the sun sparked a beautiful, eerie glow over parts of the world on Halloween, treating some onlookers to a supercharged northern lights show. The mesmerizing shades of green and violet were captured in the early hours of Oct. 31 for many in northern Canada.
Solar storm and aurora starting tonight
The sun may be delivering a Halloween treat. Aurorae! The active region of sunspot group AR12887 (2887 for short), to the southeast part of the sun, fired off an X1 solar flare on October 28, 2021. This release of magnetic energy also pushed a billion tons of solar material and a magnetic field in a coronal mass ejection (CME) out into space. The solar plasma sped toward Earth at around 2.5 to 3.3 million miles per hour (1,100 to 1,500 km/s).
When Will There Be a New Solar Superstorm?
Illustration: Benjamin Currie/Gizmodo Just shy of 162 years ago—on the morning of September 1st, 1859—a hobbyist astronomer named Richard Carrington peered through his telescope and noted, in the sky, “two patches of intensely bright and white light.” Beyond Carrington’s country estate, telegraphs were failing all over the world. In American cities that night, people strolled gazing at the sky in wonder: “the northern heavens were perfectly illuminated,” a New York Times reporter noted.
Aurora alert! Pair of CMEs to jolt Earth’s magnetic field
Aurora alert! A huge filament from a large sunspot region (AR 2860) erupted on August 28. Its resulting coronal mass ejection or CME – a bubble of superheated gas from our sun – joined an earlier CME, created in a solar flare from this same region on the sun earlier that same day. Now both CMEs are headed our way. They’re expected to cause a beautiful display of auroras. Image via SpaceWeather.com.
Apollo 11: Fifty Years After the Giant Leap | NYCITYWOMAN
Looking at the moon and beyond, past, present and future By Suzanne Charlé First Moon Walk: Buzz Aldrin pauses as Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11 (reflected near the lunar module in Aldrin’s visor), snaps his photo. NASA. . . . . . . . . . . . . “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Do you remember where you were on July 20, 1969 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first walked (and cavorted a bit) on the moon’s surface? I do.
San Francisco Exploratorium to Live Stream Tonight's Rare Total Solar Eclipse
Once every every 18 years and 11 days, someone, somewhere in the world, can have a front-row seat to a total solar eclipse. Today, if you live in, say, Australia or South China, you can count yourself among the lucky ones. But for we San Franciscans, our own Exploratorium will be live streaming the whole celestial event.
Total Solar Eclipse Will End the Day Before It Begins
Trilobites The moon will cast its shadow across parts of the Pacific Ocean during a total eclipse on March 9. On Wednesday, the moon will blot out the sun, creating a total solar eclipse that will darken the sky over parts of the western Pacific and Southeast Asia. The spectacle will begin on March 9 and finish on March 8. Yes, truly.
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