Watch Live: Annular Solar Eclipse Creates Ring of Fire
Wired Science - May 20, 2012
"An annular solar eclipse will be visible May 20 from eastern Asia, the Pacific Ocean, and much of the North American West Coast."

Solar eclipse goes social and global
MSNBC - May 20, 2012
"The sun, moon and Earth lined up today for a spectacular "Ring of Fire" annular eclipse that sparked social rites as ancient as Stonehenge and as modern as the Twitterverse."

Solar Eclipse 2012: How to See "Ring of Fire" Today
National Geographic - May 20, 2012
"This weekend, a "time traveling" solar eclipse will turn the familiar disk of the sun into a ring of fire for sky-watchers in parts of Asia and the U.S. West."

---

Colossal superflares erupt from sun-like stars
MSNBC/Space.com - May 16, 2012
"Stars like our sun can release 'superflares', explosions of up to 10,000 times more energy than the solar flares seen from our sun, researchers say."

---

Solar flare 2012: Huge sunspot AR 1476 is as big as 100,000 kilometer
Northern Voices News - May 15, 2012
"Solar flare 2012 is making waves. The latest sunspot AR 1476 is as big as 100,000 kilometer. It was detected on May 5 by NASA scientists."

---

Huge Sunspot Aimed at Earth -- Eruption Imminent?
DiscoveryNews - May 11, 2012
"Ever wondered what the view would be like when looking down the barrel of a stellar gun? Look no further, this is it. As captured in breathtaking high-definition by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), an erupting active region has rotated into view and is currently facing us, dead-on."

Space weather update: massive sunspot region now facing Earth, primed to hurl out solar flares
Washington Post - May 11, 2012
"One of the biggest sunspot regions to front the Earth in years is now in position to unleash waves of plasma towards the planet. So far though, no problems."

Shining Some Light on Sunspots
Technology News - May 11, 2011
"In fact, although scientists issue warnings of sunspots and solar flares quite regularly, with dire warnings about how these might impact communications, the power grid and our electronic equipment, mass chaos and pandemonium due to solar discharges seems to be exceedingly rare."

Solar Flare: Monster Sunspot Fires Off M-Class Sun Storm
Huffington Post - May 11, 2012
"A huge sunspot that dwarfs the Earth is unleashing a series of powerful solar flares as it moves across the surface of the sun, NASA scientists say."

---

Catch the sun's 'ring of fire' in annular eclipse
MSNBC/Space.com - May 10, 2012
"Just two weeks after the huge "supermoon" wowed skywatchers around the world, the heavens will offer up another observing treat — a solar eclipse on May 20 that should be visible from much of western North America."

NASA SDO - M5-class Solar Flare, May 10, 2012 (Video)
NASA/SDO/YouTube - May 10, 2012
"Early morning hours of May 10, 2012 - active region 1476 unleashed an impulsive M5-class solar flare."

---

Sunspot Has Produced M-Class Flares, But No CMEs
NASA - May 9, 2012
"The sun unleashed an M4.7 class flare at 8:32 EDT on May 9, 2012 as captured here by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (below). The flare was over quickly and there was no coronal mass ejection associated with it."

M4.7 Class Solar Flare ~ May 9, 2012 ~ NASA/SDO

'Monster sunspot' could bring solar flares
CBS News - May 9, 2012
"The CMEs blasts could arrive on Earth later today and cause moderate geomagnetic storms later and auroras in the higher altitudes, according to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center."

Giant Sun Spot To Send Solar Flares Toward Earth: VIDEO
Brevard Times - May 9, 2012
"According to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, NOAA Region 1476, now poised just to the east of center on the solar disk, produced an impulsive R1(Minor) Radio Blackout at 1232 UTC (8:32 EDT) today."

AR1476 Sun spot setting sights on Earth, solar flares and aurora borealis possible this week
WPTV - May 9, 2012
"The sun is active again. A very large sun spot has rotated around the sun and is now about to face directly toward the Earth."

Another Major Solar Storm Possible
MSNBC/WISE-TV - May 9, 2012
"A huge sunspot may produce another strong solar flare, an explosion on the sun's surface."

Solar storm could trigger Northern Lights tonight, tomorrow
Examiner.com - May 9, 2012
"Yesterday, the Sun exploded with energy, launching a pair of coronal mass ejection (CME) into space and directly towards Earth. The wave of charged particles from the Sun is now expected to impact Earth's upper atmosphere sometime Saturday evening, which can have both positive and negative results for us here on Earth."

Sunspot AR1476 Image ~ May 9, 2012 ~ NASA/SDO

---

Giant sunspot could hurl strong solar flares toward Earth
USA Today - May 8, 2012
"A 'monster sunspot' more than 60,000 miles wide could send some powerful solar flares toward Earth on Wednesday, NASA says." (includes NASA video)

Strong Solar Flare Bursts Towards Earth (video)
Space.com - May 8, 2012
"Sunspot AR1471 unleashed an M-class solar flare on May 7th, 2012. Forecasters at the Goddard Space Weather lab predict that coronal mass ejection will reach Earth on May 9th."

Monster Sunspot To Unleash Powerful Solar Flares
MSNBC/DiscoveryNews - May 8, 2012
"An enormous sunspot group has taken shape on the surface of the sun, hinting that our star may soon start spouting off some powerful storms."

Heat is on: 'Monster' sunspot could put Earth in the crosshairs of powerful solar storms
Daily Mail - May 8, 2012
"It could result in a gigantic coronal mass ejection, which would blast the Earth with radiation and possibly knock-out power lines and disrupt satellites."

Huge sunspot forebodes major solar flares
SlashGear - May 8, 2012
"An enormous sunspot observed on the sun over the weekend may portend problematic solar activity, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report."

Medium-Class Solar Flare Erupted On Tuesday
redOrbit - May 8, 2012
"A medium-class solar flare erupted from the Sun on Tuesday, prompting scientists to keep their eye on the region for a space weather impact on Earth."

Solar storm could turn the lights out
stuff.co.nz/Fairfax NZ News - May 8, 2012
"A solar storm capable of bringing the world to a standstill is not far away, says a leading UK space weather scientist."

Solar storms threaten life as we know it
The Sidney Morning Herald - May 8, 2012
"Massive solar storms have happened before - and another one is likely to occur soon, according to Mike Hapgood, a space weather scientist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford, England."

As Solar Storm Activity Increases, Stocktrek Unveils Stunning New Space Weather Images
Yahoo! News - May 8, 2012
"In the next year, solar activity is projected to increase in size and intensity. This will create large scale aurora activity that individuals will be able to see much further south than usual. Stocktrek unveils stunning new space weather imagery in relation to these events."

---

Wonders of sun, moon and sky
MSNBC - May 4, 2012
"'I saw the sunspot disappearing and appearing again, then its mirage appeared above the original spot higher on the solar disk, then a third mirage spot appeared.'"

Space weather expert has ominous forecast
The Los Angeles Times - May 4, 2012
"A serious concern would be whole regions losing electrical power for some significant time. Here in the U.K., the official assessment is that we could lose one or two regions where the power might be out for several months."

---

Solar Orbiter, satellite destined for record-breaking sun mission, gets UK deal
GlobalPost - April 26, 2012
"The European Space Agency (ESA) today announced that it is teaming up with a UK firm to build a new spacecraft projected to travel nearer to the sun than any satellite to date, reported the BBC."

Continued in News Archive...

---

M1.7-Class Solar Flare Image ~ April 16, 2012 ~ NASA/SDO/AIA

Flare Features

What People in 1859 Thought of the Great Solar Storm (Hint: They Were Very Confused)
Discover Magazine - May, 9, 2012
On September 1, 1859, the sky erupted in color: 'alternating great pillars, rolling cumuli shooting streamers, curdled and wisped and fleecy waves—rapidly changing its hue from red to orange, orange to yellow, and yellow to white, and back in the same order to brilliant red,' read a New York Times account."

Top four solar flare questions answered by NASA scientists
EarthSky Blog - April 26, 2012
"In this video, NASA scientists answer four common questions about the solar flares, space weather, and how they affect the Earth."

Why was a rubber chicken sent to the edge of Earth's atmosphere?
KOMO (Blog) - April 23, 2012
"What do you do if you're a group of science-minded middle and high school students who want to study the effects of a solar flare? If you're part of Dr. Tony Phillips' Earth to Sky Calculus class in Bishop, California, you strap a rubber chicken to a weather balloon and send it 115,000 feet up to the Earth's stratosphere -- right on the front door to outer space."

When It Comes to Solar Storms, We Don't Even Know How Bad It Might Get
Scientific American (Blog) - April 18, 2012
"But what if the superstorm of 1859 isn’t even as bad as it gets? The problem is not just that our technological world is vulnerable to stormy space weather, which it is, but also that we don’t really know what kind of storms to expect, according to a commentary in the April 19 issue of Nature by Mike Hapgood of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the U.K..."

Storm warning: We're not ready for a super solar blast
MSNBC/Space.com - April 18, 2012
"Humanity needs to be much better prepared for massive solar storms, which can wreak havoc on our technology-dependent society, a prominent researcher warns."

Frank Hill: Future sunspot drop, but no new ice age
EarthSky News - April 12, 2012
"Frank Hill told EarthSky that — while his team did suggest a drop in solar activity beginning around 2019 — they did not suggest Earth would cool as a result."

Sunspots, icebergs, and a Titanic mystery
Philadelphia Inquirer - April 13, 2012
"Just what were icebergs doing prowling the North Atlantic at the latitude of Newport, R.I., in the middle of April? Ironically, the sun may have had something to do with the answer."

Should we really worry about solar storms?
Aljazeera - April 10, 2012
"Although our technology is vulnerable to coronal mass ejections, technological advancement help to mitigate the effects."

Video: Beautiful Solar Eruption Seen in Extreme Ultraviolet
Wired Science - April 9, 2012
"NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this gorgeous video of a recent outburst from the sun’s surface in ultraviolet light."

NASA Spacecraft Spot Something New On the Sun
ScienceDaily - April 9, 2012
"One day in the fall of 2011, Neil Sheeley, a solar scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., did what he always does -- look through the daily images of the sun from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). But on this day he saw something he'd never noticed before: a pattern of cells with bright centers and dark boundaries occurring in the sun's atmosphere, the corona."

New "Sunquake" Trigger Found: Huge Solar Belches
National Geographic - April 5, 2012
"Powerful earthquake-like events on the sun's surface, called sunquakes, can be set off by huge belches of charged particles from the solar atmosphere, scientists say."

Researchers explore new theories for solar flares, physics
Purdue Exponent - April 3, 2012
"After six years of continual research and identifying an unexpected variance in data, researchers are nearly certain they have discovered a way to predict solar flares at least a day in advance."

Space 'Sailboat' Could Offer Solar Storm Early Warning System
Chicago Tribune - April 2, 2012
"With a planned launch in 2014, the sail might be able to fly a satellite close to the sun to study solar flares - and alert scientists when one is incoming."

Continued in Feature Archive...

Solar Flare Serves Up Antimatter Surprises
Scientific American - September 5, 2003
"The results of the most detailed study yet of a solar flare, which will be published in the October 1 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters, indicate that each burst can create up to a pound of antimatter."

Solar Flares Disrupt World's Radios
The Evening Independent - July 9, 1968
"The biggest and brightest solar flare since 1966 fouled up short-wave radio communications around the world yesterday, the U.S. Space Disturbance Forecast Center reported."

Skylab Cameras Catch Solar Flare
Toledo Blade - June 16, 1973
"Skylab astronauts photographed a massive explosion on the sun Friday, recording on film the clearest view ever of the powerful burst of energy, light, and radiation spewed into space from a solar flare."

Deadly Solar Flares Pose Threat to Astronauts While on the Moon
Daytona Beach Morning Journal - July 15, 1969
"When, next Monday morning, Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. are to walk on the moon in their bulky space suits, or even when they are inside the paper-thin walls of their moon taxi - the lunar module - they would be defenseless against the radioactive wave, they could sicken or die."