Sunspots, the solar cycle, and space weather

Sunspots are darker patches on the Sun's surface, about 1,500 kelvins cooler than their surroundings, where strong magnetic fields hold back the flow of heat from below. The number of sunspots rises and falls over a solar cycle of about 11 years, and near solar maximum the Sun produces more of the eruptions that drive space weather. The solar wind is a constant stream of charged particles flowing out from the Sun. Solar flares are sudden, intense bursts of radiation from magnetically active regions; coronal mass ejections (CMEs) hurl huge clouds of magnetized gas into space; and prominences are enormous loops of glowing gas held up by magnetic fields. When a strong CME or burst of particles reaches Earth, it can create vivid auroras, disrupt radio communication and GPS, damage satellites, endanger astronauts, and, in severe storms, overload power grids, as in the 1989 blackout in Quebec. Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere shield life on the surface from most of this radiation.

This explanation is AI-generated and can occasionally be wrong. 🚩 Report