Solar Activity

Magnetism is the main force at work when it comes to how the Sun and the Earth connect.  The magnetic field of the Sun is where solar activity originates from.  The magnetosphere of the Earth helps protect it from the solar wind.  Now we will detail the events that take place in and around the Sun a bit more.

The coronal mass ejections and solar flares that come from the sun often hit the Earth's magnetopause.  This causes changes within the Earth's magnetic field, which can be harmful to Earth, and cause damage to equipment and even humans.

Solar flares are areas around sunspots that brighten sharply when seen through a telescope because of an enormous energy release.  One of the main characteristics that distinguishes solar flares from other solar events is how suddenly they occur.  They can last from anywhere between a few minutes to a day, and because they release so much energy, they are very hot!

Here is an image of a solar flare on the Sun:

Coronal mass ejections are large bubbles of gas that cause even more particles to be ejected into the solar wind and are associated with erupting prominences and sometimes with solar flares.  They are thought to be caused by an energy release that takes place in the Sun's magnetic field, but they emit from the corona.  It is likely that they cause the Earth more damage than solar flares.

Here is an image of a coronal mass ejection sequence:

This sequence was taken with a coronagraph which creates an artificial solar eclipse which blocks out the Sun with a black disk so that the corona is visible.  (To see an animation of some recent coronal mass ejections, check out the Recent Solar Events page!)