Solar Activity

Explore 15.2 The Solar Cycle to learn about sunspots, the solar rotation, the 11-year sunspot cycle, and the magnetic activity cycle of the Sun.
Watch the NOVA clip The Dynamic Sun, which again shows incredible imagery from the space telescopes, illustrating the changing surface of the sun.
Read 15.3 Solar Activity above the Photosphere to understand prominences, plages, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections, and how they relate to solar activity.
You can view real-time imagery of the sun from space telescopes using the incredible HelioViewer Website. Check out my HelioViewer Tutorial video to learn about the features of the website.
Review 15.4 Space Weather to grasp the effects of solar activity on Earth, including auroras, disruptions in communications, satellite damage, and power outages caused by solar flares and coronal mass ejections.
Watch the NOVA clip Solar Wind and Storms to see examples of solar storms that can impact the earth.
Earth’s ongoing geological activity produces a relatively strong magnetic field around our planet. This turns out to be quite essential for protecting us from harmful solar storms. Watch the NOVA clip Earth’s Magnetic Shield.
Watch The Threat to Earth to learn more about the very real risk posed by powerful solar storms.
Despite the threats, solar storms produce the most magical of all celestial phenomena - the aurora. Perhaps you’ve seen amazing timelapse videos of the northern lights before, but even more amazing is to see just how much the aurora dance across the sky in real-time. <- You MUST check out that video! Note that the video is not sped up - the aurora really changes that quickly! Imagine aurora that are so bright that they can be seen in the daytime. Absolutely incredible!
I’ve seen the northern lights 4 times in my life and captured them on camera 3 times. Check out this video showing My Best Photos of Aurora.