To the casual observer, the Sun seems to be the one constant and never changing. The reality is that the Sun is a seething mass of plasma, electrically charged gas which is constantly being effected by the Sun’s magnetic field. The unpredictability of the activity on the Sun is one of the challenges that faces modern solar physicists. The impact of coronal mass ejections are one particular aspect that comes with levels of uncertainty of their impact. But machine learning algorithms could perhaps have given us more warning! A new paper suggests algorithms trained on decades of solar activity saw all the signs of increased activity from the region called AR13664 and perhaps can help with future outbursts.
Here’s How Interstellar Objects and Rogue Planets Can be Trapped in the Solar System

When Oumuamua traversed our Solar System in 2017 it was the first confirmed Interstellar Object (ISO) to do so. Then in 2019, Comet 2l/Borisov did the same thing. These are the only two confirmed ISOs to visit our Solar System. Many more ISOs must have visited in our Solar System’s long history, and many more will visit in the future. There are obviously more of these objects out there, and the upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory is expected to discover many more.
It’s possible that the Sun could capture an ISO or a rogue planet in the same way that some of the planets have captured moons.
It all comes down to phase space.
Continue reading “Here’s How Interstellar Objects and Rogue Planets Can be Trapped in the Solar System”An Insanely High-Resolution Image of the Sun

Our local star the Sun has been the source of many studies from ground based telescopes to space based observatories. The ESA Solar Orbiter has been approaching the Sun, capturing images along the way in unprecedented detail. It arrived at its halfway point in March last year and captured a series of 25 images. They have now been stitched together to reveal an astonishingly high resolution image. You can even zoom in to see individual granules in the solar photosphere.
Continue reading “An Insanely High-Resolution Image of the Sun”India Follows its Lunar Mission by Sending a Spacecraft to Study the Sun

Amid its Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon, India’s space agency launched another satellite and this one will study the Sun.
The spacecraft, called Aditya-L1, is bound for the Earth-Sun L1 Lagrange Point, located 1.5 million km from Earth. This will give it a perfect perspective to watch the Sun, similar to NASA’s SOHO mission. It will reach its destination in about three months and then use seven instruments to observe the Sun, its atmosphere, and the solar environment.
Continue reading “India Follows its Lunar Mission by Sending a Spacecraft to Study the Sun”New Detailed Images of the Sun from the World’s Most Powerful Ground-Based Solar Telescope

Our Sun continues to demonstrate its awesome power in a breathtaking collection of recent images taken by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Daniel Inouye Solar Telescope, aka Inouye Solar Telescope, which is the world’s largest and most powerful ground-based solar telescope. These images, taken by one of Inouye’s first-generation instruments, the Visible-Broadband Imager (VBI), show our Sun in incredible, up-close detail.
Continue reading “New Detailed Images of the Sun from the World’s Most Powerful Ground-Based Solar Telescope”Gravitational Waves From Pulsars Could Be Used to Probe the Interior of the Sun

Gravitational wave astronomy is still in its early stages. So far it has focused on the most energetic and distinct sources of gravitational waves, such as the cataclysmic mergers of black holes and neutron stars. But that will change as our gravitational telescopes improve, and it will allow astronomers to explore the universe in ways previously impossible.
Continue reading “Gravitational Waves From Pulsars Could Be Used to Probe the Interior of the Sun”Solar Orbiter Continues to Get Closer to the Sun, Revealing More and More With Each Pass
On April 10th, ESA’s Solar Orbiter made its closest flyby of the Sun, coming to within just 29% of the distance from the Earth to the Sun. From this vantage point, the spacecraft is performing close-up studies of our Sun and inner heliosphere. This is basically uncharted territory, as we’ve never had a spacecraft this close to the Sun.
One of the goals of the mission is to figure out why the Sun’s corona — its outer atmosphere — is so hot. The corona can reach temperatures of 2 million degrees C, vastly hotter than its 5,500 C surface. A new paper based on Solar Orbiter data, may offer some clues.
Continue reading “Solar Orbiter Continues to Get Closer to the Sun, Revealing More and More With Each Pass”Watch a Dramatic Tornado Rise from the Surface of the Sun, Captured by Andrew McCarthy

Amateur astrophotography is becoming increasingly popular among the astronomy community, as advancements in telescope and camera technologies allow individuals from all walks of life to observe the heavens in mind-blowing detail, including our own Sun, albeit with the proper protective equipment. This was recently demonstrated by Andrew McCarthy (Twitter @AJamesMcCarthy), who owns and operates Cosmic Background Studios, and is originally from Northern California but currently resides in Florence, Arizona.
Continue reading “Watch a Dramatic Tornado Rise from the Surface of the Sun, Captured by Andrew McCarthy”The Sun Continues its Journey to Solar Maximum, Releasing X-Class Flares

The Sun belted out strong solar flares two days in a row, as activity ramps up toward the next Solar Maximum, predicted for mid-2025.
On Saturday, February 11, a flare classified as X1.1 erupted from the Sun, while just a day before a different region on the Sun blasted out a X1.0 flare.
Continue reading “The Sun Continues its Journey to Solar Maximum, Releasing X-Class Flares”Images From Three Telescopes Merged Into One Spectacular Picture of the Sun
You’ve probably never seen our Sun look like this before. This bizarre image of old Sol is made from data produced by three different space telescopes, each observing the Sun at a different wavelength.
Continue reading “Images From Three Telescopes Merged Into One Spectacular Picture of the Sun”