Space Weather

Space Weather is the term scientists use to describe the ever changing conditions in space. Explosions on the Sun create storms of radiation, fluctuating magnetic fields, and swarms of energetic particles. These phenomena travel outward through the Solar System with the solar wind. Upon arrival at Earth, they interact in complex ways with Earth's magnetic field, creating Earth's radiation belts and the Aurora. Some space weather storms can damage satellites, disable electric power grids, and disrupt cell phone communications systems.
A sinuous glowing band of <a href="/earth/Magnetosphere/aurora.html&edu=high&dev=">aurora</a> (the Aurora Australis or Southern Lights) loops around the <a href="/earth/polar/polar_south.html&edu=high&dev=">southern polar</a> region in the distance as viewed by astronauts onboard the space shuttle on <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-39.html">STS-039</a>. <a href="/earth/Magnetosphere/aurora/aurora_colors.html&edu=high&dev=">Aurora are produced</a> when <a href="/physical_science/physics/atom_particle/particle_radiation.html&edu=high&dev=">energetic particles</a> entering the Earth's atmosphere from space interact with <a href="/physical_science/physics/atom_particle/atom.html&edu=high&dev=">atoms</a> and <a href="/earth/geology/molecule.html&edu=high&dev=">molecules</a> in the atmosphere and release energy, emitted as light.<p><small><em>Courtesy of NASA, Astronaut Overmeyer and Dr. Hallinan</em></small></p>The outermost layer of the <a href="/sun/solar_atmosphere.html&edu=high&dev=">Sun's atmosphere</a> is the <a href="/sun/atmosphere/corona.html&edu=high&dev=">corona</a>. The corona is very, very hot - about 1 million degrees! Glowing <a href="/sun/Solar_interior/Sun_layers/Core/plasma_state.html&edu=high&dev=">plasma</a>, which is like magnetized gas, sometimes forms loops in the corona. <a href="/sun/atmosphere/sunspot_magnetism.html&edu=high&dev=">Magnetic fields around sunspots</a> make these loops, called coronal loops. The loops are huge - about 30 Earths would fit across them! A satellite named TRACE took this picture in November 1999.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA/Trace Mission</em></small></p>The <a href="/earth/Magnetosphere/overview.html&edu=high&dev=">magnetic field of the Earth</a> is surrounded in a region called the magnetosphere, which is much larger than the Earth itself. The magnetosphere prevents most of the particles from the sun, carried in <a href="/sun/solar_wind.html&edu=high&dev=">solar wind</a>, from hitting the Earth.<p><small><em> Image courtesy of Windows to the Universe.</em></small></p>Sunspots don't look that big when you see them on the Sun (remember NEVER look directly at the Sun), but in fact they can be enormous! This composite image shows just how big sunspots can be, to scale with an image of Earth. Sunspots can be as big, or bigger, than Earth. The <a href="/sun/activity/sunspot_history.html&edu=high&dev=">earliest written record of a sunspot observation</a> was made by Chinese astronomers around 800 B.C.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of Windows to the Universe using images from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (sunspot image) and NASA (Earth image).</em></small></p>On 21 April, 2010, the Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the launch of a filament from the <a href="/sun/atmosphere/photosphere.html&edu=high&dev=">surface of the Sun</a>. These are the most detailed images of the Sun ever taken. The images show light in the <a href="/physical_science/magnetism/em_ultraviolet.html&edu=high&dev=">ultraviolet</a> part of the <a href="/physical_science/magnetism/em_spectrum.html&edu=high&dev=">electromagnetic spectrum</a>. The Sun is now entering another period of <a href="/sun/solar_activity.html&edu=high&dev=">solar activity</a> after several years of a relatively quiet Sun. Activity on the Sun varies on an <a href="/sun/activity/sunspot_cycle.html&edu=high&dev=">cycle of about 11 years</a>.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory and AIA Consortium</em></small></p>This is an artist's conception of the Earth and the inner and outer <a href="/glossary/radiation_belts.html&edu=high&dev=">radiation belts</a> that surround it. The Earth's radiation belts are just one part of the system called the <a href="/earth/Magnetosphere/overview.html&edu=high&dev=">magnetosphere</a>. The radiation belts of the Earth are made up of <a href="/physical_science/physics/atom_particle/electron.html&edu=high&dev=">electrons</a>, <a href="/physical_science/physics/atom_particle/proton.html&edu=high&dev=">protons</a> and heavier atomic ions. These particles get trapped in the <a href="/earth/Magnetosphere/earth_magnetic_field.html&edu=high&dev=">magnetic field of the Earth</a>. These belts were <a href="/earth/Magnetosphere/radiation_belts_discovery.html&edu=high&dev=">discovered</a> by James Van Allen in 1958, and so they are known as Van Allen Belts.<p><small><em>Courtesy of Windows to the Universe</em></small></p>

Explore Space Weather

Introduction to Space Weather

   What are scientists talking about when they say "space weather"? How is it like weather ...Read more

Space Weather Today

Like weather on Earth, space weather is constantly changing. On Earth you can simply look ...Read more

Explore Space Weather

   Space weather begins at the Sun and its ever-expanding atmosphere. From the human perspective, ...Read more

Monitoring and Modeling Space Weather

   How do we know what kind of "weather" we're having in space? Scientists use a network of ...Read more

Physics of Space weather

Subatomic particles zipping around through magnetized plasma - does that sound like physics ...Read more

Multimedia

Access spectacular movies and a very full image gallery to find out more about space weather ...Read more

Activities, Projects & Problems

Hands-on activities, longer term projects, and tricky problems to tickle your brain - we've ...Read more

Glossary

There is a lot of specialized language used in the field of space weather. Here are definitions ...Read more

Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling

Visit the CISM site to read news and highlights, access presentations and seminars ...Read more

Archive

This is the "old" space weather section in case you're looking for a page that was housed there ...Read more

More about Space Weather


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Research Highlights

Extended Period of Lower Solar Activity Linked to Changes in Sun's Conveyor Belt

A new analysis of the unusually long solar cycle that ended in 2008 suggests that one reason for the long cycle could be a stretching of the sun's conveyor belt, a current of plasma that circulates between...Read more


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