(Yes, this is not necessarily surprising – but fun to see the comparison in the data. For example, the previously solar cycle shows far greater interest in solar flares, despite it being a weaker cycle with fewer large events).
Fun fact: people googling ‘Solar Flare’ is a great measure of the Sun’s 11-year solar cycle!
My first first post is live for my "Sunny-Sci'd Up" Substack! I dive into solar activity throughout February 2026, discussing low sunspot numbers, a giant solar flare, a barely-viewed solar eclipse – and more! Link here:
open.substack.com/pub/ryanjfre...
Coming up in ~30 minutes! I look forward to chatting to Colin about the science of solar flares & their influence on us here at Earth.
This Sunday, @ryanjfrench.bsky.social joins me to discuss one of the solar system’s most dramatic phenomena: solar flares.
What causes them?
Do they threaten Earth?
What don’t we know?
Join us at 8pm UK / 4pm ET
open.substack.com/live-stream/...
(Calendar links below)
#astronomy ⚛️🧪
We are a little over 12 hours until a total lunar eclipse is visible for much of North America, Oceania and Asia. What is it, and where/when is it visible?
Can you see the Eye of Sauron suspended above the Sun? Not to worry, the Dark Lord hasn't returned.
Instead, this is a 'filament eruption' from the Sun today – the eruption of cooler plasma suspended within the Sun's atmosphere.
Two solar physicists skiing the corona!
A student in my class captured this stunning photo of the Sun using a telescope I lent him. I think it really highlights the majesty of our local star, even in the absence of sunspots!
It's completely free to sign up! Link here: open.substack.com/pub/ryanjfre...
For anybody interested: I am starting a free sun science newsletter (on Substack) titled "Sunny Sci'd Up". With the first post coming soon, the newsletter will contain monthly updates on solar flare activity, solar cycle progression, relevant mission updates, and more. (Link below)
Great point!
A pleasure to contribute to @bipisci.bsky.social this week, with interviews with @asrivkin.bsky.social about the (slim but exciting) prospect of asteroid 2024YR4 hitting the Moon in 2032
And @ryanjfrench.bsky.social about persistent geomag storms post solar max.
bigpicturescience.org/episodes/cel...
The real images used in the trailer were taken by the 304 Å channel on the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory’s Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SDO/AIA). Does anybody recognise the active region? It would be fun to pin down a date!
I was rewatching the Project Hail Mary trailers, and noticed they used fake footage of the Sun in trailer 1 (left), but switched it out with real Sun footage from trailer 2 onwards (right)! A good decision.
Certainly an ‘unknown unknown’ for many!
So if anybody ever says it’s usual (or an indication of danger) to see big widespread aurora from small flares (or vice versa) – it’s an indication that they don’t know what they’re talking about. I’ve seen many use this argument with the major 2024-2025 geomagnetic storm!
The Sun produced another sizeable solar flare this morning, reaching a respectable X4.2 level. But, big flares don’t necessitate strong aurora at Earth. Eruptions of plasma (coronal mass ejections) are needed to create strong aurora, but large flares may produce weak eruptions, or even none at all.
Another gorgeous X-class solar flare from the Sun earlier today. Like the other strong flares from this region, the flare did not produce any significant ejecta – meaning that nothing is en route to Earth.
The Sun has produced another X-class #SolarFlare (the strongest category). This active region will continue facing Earth for a few more days!
We await further data to determine if the flare sent an eruption our way.
Where do solar flares come from? Just as earthquakes are the release of built up frictional energy along fault lines, solar flares are the release of built up magnetic energy above sunspots. This week, complex magnetic field mixing = strong flare chances! (See Earth for scale).
This movie shows the past 24 hours in active region AR 14366 – the area responsible for the recent strong solar flares! This wavelength shows cooler (1 million °C) plasma, revealing how dynamic the coronal magnetic field is right now. This region has many more flares to give!
Even a Carrington Event would not influence individual pacemakers! Electrical currents produced on the ground by geomagnetic storms are proportional to the length of the conducting material. So power grids / railway lines / phone cables vulnerable, but small devices are not.
Looking unlikely.
Today’s large (X8.1-class) #SolarFlare produced a dense, slow moving eruption – but not the rapid coronal mass ejection that aurora chasers were hoping for. Much of the material falls back to the Sun, dense enough to appear near-opaque (‘optically-thick’) at some wavelengths!
After an hour of near X-class flare levels, the Sun is calming down (for now). This active region is not finished however, with further strong X-class flares inevitable at this point!
For context, this is larger than any solar flare measured in 2018-2023, or 2025. Both 2017 and 2024 each saw two flares larger than this one.
A significant #SolarFlare is currently underway on the Sun! The flare was so bright, it has caused saturation and diffraction patterns in images captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Early data also seems to suggest the flare was eruptive.
CORRECTION: it is the 3rd strongest Earth-facing flare since 2017 (it didn’t quite sneak into the number two spot).
Much too early to say that! We don't know the flare produced a CME yet. (And if it did, it's not in the perfect spot for Earth-directivity.)
