The Sun

Science

A New Sun Cycle Promises Relatively Calm Space Weather For The Next Decade

5:13pm September 15, 2020

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The sun can affect people's electronics, the power grid and communications and navigation systems. But scientists predict that for the next decade or so, the Sun's activity will not be too disruptive.

Science

Probe Gets Close To The Sun — Finds Rogue Plasma Waves And Flipping Magnetic Fields

6:01pm December 04, 2019

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The initial results from an ambitious mission to get a spacecraft close to the Sun are shedding new light on some old mysteries about our closest star.

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A so-called "blood moon" seen during a total lunar eclipse in western Germany, on Sept. 28, 2015.

Science

Heads-Up For Sunday, A Super 'Blood Moon' Is On The Way

9:50pm January 17, 2019

by Ian Stewart

Not only will the moon be particularly close to Earth, but it will also be bathed in a reddish light just before midnight Eastern time.

Watching the eclipse? Save your eyeballs — rig up a sweet viewing set-up with some help from this video.

Make Your Own Eclipse Viewer

4:38pm August 17, 2017

No eclipse glasses? No problem. Make your own solar viewer; (almost) no tools required.

Eclipses aren't just natural marvels - they're still teaching us a lot about the universe.

How Eclipses Changed History

6:31am August 16, 2017

Newton and Einstein had big ideas, but needed an eclipse to prove them. And scientists are still pursuing secrets of the universe one eclipse at a time.

Johannes Hevelius (left) and an assistant observe a partial solar eclipse in 1673.

Scientists Prepare For 'The Most Beautiful Thing You Can See In The Sky'

4:31pm August 07, 2017

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

You'd think that after hundreds of years of watching total solar eclipses, scientists would know all they'd need to about that particular phenomenon. You'd be wrong.

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Science

'Freakish' Sunspot Wows Astronomers

10:07am October 27, 2014

by Scott Neuman

AR 2192, the largest sunspot seen since the beginning of the current 11-year cycle that started in 2008, is producing strong solar flares.