One way to track the solar cycle is by counting the number of sunspots, which are dark, cooler patches on the Sun’s surface.

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. An award-winning reporter writing about stargazing and the night sky. The aurora borealis glows in shades of green, pink, and ...

New research suggests that the unexpected intensity of the ongoing solar maximum may be partly tied to a lesser-known, 100-year solar cycle. If true, solar activity could spike further in the coming ...

SEATTLE — It’s been one year since the impressive aurora borealis show lit up the sky in all of the lower 48 states. On the night of May 10-11, 2024, the colorful northern lights were sighted as far ...

Research by university scientists suggests that solar flares may be far hotter than previously believed, offering new insights into the Sun’s behavior. The findings, recently published in the ...

The Sun seems like a perfectly reliable, unchanging presence in the daytime sky, but it’s not. Intense heat and pressure in its core fuses hydrogen atoms into helium, fueling the cosmic fire that ...

The Northern Lights may ramp up in intensity for the next 50 years as the sun potentially enters a new long-term phase of heightened activity, suggests a new study by solar scientists. The night sky ...

Space weather forecasters issued an alert on Tuesday for incoming severe solar storms that could produce colorful northern lights and temporarily disrupt communications. In the past few days, the sun ...

Solar activity, manifested primarily through sunspots, solar flares and coronal mass ejections, has long influenced both the near-space environment and terrestrial systems. Over millennia, variations ...