Solar activity as a research area focuses on the study of time-varying phenomena originating from the Sun’s magnetic field, including sunspots, flares, coronal mass ejections, solar wind variability, and associated irradiance changes. It integrates solar physics, plasma astrophysics, and space weather science to understand magnetic field generation via the solar dynamo, energy storage and release in the corona, and particle acceleration processes. This field employs multi-wavelength observations, in situ spacecraft measurements, and magnetohydrodynamic modeling to quantify solar variability and its coupling to the heliosphere, planetary magnetospheres, and upper atmospheres, with implications for technological systems and long-term space climate.
Close to 100 scientists from all over Europe, the United States, and Japan are gathering this week at the Institute for Solar Physics (KIS) in Freiburg to present and discuss the first scientific results from the successful ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 3, 2026
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The proton sharks showed up on a Friday. In a routine data calibration meeting for NASA's Parker Solar Probe in 2020, a small group of scientists were scrolling through visualizations of their data showing solar winds. Suddenly, ...
Astronomy
May 28, 2026
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Internal changes due to the sun's "active biorhythm" have become increasingly "skin-deep" over the past four solar activity cycles, according to a new study.
Astronomy
May 27, 2026
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It's getting crowded up there. Over the past few years, the advent of SpaceX's Starlink and other players in the mega-satellite constellation game are adding an exponential load of satellites and orbital debris to the low ...
Space Exploration
May 24, 2026
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When you look up at the sky on a sunny day, the sun might seem like a bright spot, unchanging in the sky. But the sun is a complex, dynamic celestial body, wrapped in electrical currents and magnetic fields that constantly ...
Astronomy
May 24, 2026
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When NASA scientists first observed a particular radio burst from the sun in August 2025, there was nothing unusual about it. But then the radio burst kept going. Typically, solar radio bursts like these last a few hours ...
Astronomy
May 15, 2026
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A new AI-based approach that can "hear" inside the sun could give vital signs of the solar disturbances that have significant effects in near-Earth space and on human activities. The solar cycle is an approximate 11-year ...
Astronomy
May 12, 2026
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For observers on Earth, the sun appears as a bright, familiar disk—but what we see is only half the story. Like the moon, one half of the sun is permanently hidden from our direct view: the far side beyond the visible solar ...
Astronomy
Apr 24, 2026
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Our planet rests inside a magnetic cocoon filled with plasma—but it's not always peaceful and quiet. Activity from the sun can send waves through this space, and some of those disturbances can even reach Earth, affecting ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 17, 2026
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Research led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has integrated three types of machine learning models to generate solar magnetic patches with physical properties and used those as a query to find matching patches in real ...
Astronomy
Apr 14, 2026
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