Solar maximum news, features and articles

On Aug. 8, NASA scientists may have spotted a record number of sunspots when hundreds of individual spots were estimated to occur within 24 hours.

Auroras may once again be visible in northern parts of the U.S. this weekend as Earth braces for impact from a powerful coronal mass ejection.

When the sun reaches its period of peak activity, known as solar maximum, our star's magentic field will suddenly reverse. But why does it happen, and will it impact Earth?

New simulations suggest that the origins of the sun's explosive storms could lie much closer to its surface than first thought.

Vibrant auroras that were recently observed by millions of people across the globe were some of the most widespread in the last five centuries, NASA says. The light shows may have also reached the equator.

The strongest solar flare in half a decade just launched off the sun from the same sunspot group that triggered dazzling auroras last weekend. But don't expect northern lights this time around.

Between Friday (May 10) and Sunday (May 12), people across the world were treated to stunning aurora displays as Earth's magnetic field experienced its biggest disturbance since October 2003. The supercharged storm also messed with satellites and caused power grid irregularities.

Coronal moss grows, solar rain falls and plasma eruptions rear their gargantuan heads in this fiery landscape of the sun's outer atmosphere, taken by ESA's Solar Orbiter.

Mars has had frequent planet-wide auroras in recent months, including an unprecedented trio of events in February. Experts say the sudden increase is the result of the ongoing solar maximum.

In the early hours of Tuesday (April 23), quadruple solar flares near-simultaneously exploded from across the sun's surface, and there's a good chance that one of these outbursts launched a solar storm toward Earth.