With new missions underway and planned, China is stepping up to observe our nearest stellar neighbor.
solar activity
Posted inScience Updates
A New Journey Around (and Around) the Sun
The Solar Orbiter just completed its commissioning phase while en route to the Sun. It has already provided valuable looks at solar campfires and Venus’s magnetic fields, and it promises much more.
Posted inNews
When Betelgeuse Won’t Explode, You Need a Big Telescope to Prove It
Thanks to last-minute telescope time, researchers pieced together the sequence of events that caused Betelgeuse’s Great Dimming last year.
Posted inNews
Record-Setting Flare Spotted on the Nearest Star to the Sun
Proxima Centauri recently let loose a blast of radiation, and ground- and space-based telescopes detected the record-setting event at wavelengths ranging from radio to the ultraviolet.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Severe Radiation Storms Pose Health Risk to Air Travel
Simulations of radiation storm fluxes on real flight paths highlight how severe space weather could expose aircrew and passengers on busy transatlantic routes to significant radiation doses.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Using Earth’s Atmosphere as a Solar Flare Monitor
Measurements of very-low frequency radio signal phase and amplitude can detect upper atmosphere changes caused by solar flares, enabling us to monitor flare occurrence and intensity.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Observational Data Validate Models of Sun’s Influence on Earth
Using a combination of independent models and observations over multiple timescales, scientists verify two important models that gauge the amount of solar radiation Earth receives.
Posted inNews
Ancient Assyrian Aurorae Help Astronomers Understand Solar Activity
Records of aurorae in Mesopotamia from 2,600 years ago are helping astronomers understand and predict solar activity today.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Hearing the Sun Tock
The appearance of sunspots—their number, duration, and location—suggests that the dynamics of the Sun’s outer layer is synchronized with an internal clock.
Posted inNews
Podcast: Space Weather and Global Policy
In the latest episode of its Centennial series, AGU’s Third Pod from the Sun talks space weather and its influence on global policy with Delores Knipp.