It’s nice to be reminded from time to time that beyond all the storytelling elements about space, space itself is pretty damned impressive.
On January 22nd, the sun exploded. Or close enough, anyway. A massive solar flare reached Earth two days later leaving us with a lot of pretty lights in the sky while bombarding cosmic radiation that would kill us all. Lots of pictures! Enjoy!
Coronal Mass Ejections are massive disturbances on the Sun’s surface, ejecting plasma out into the solar system. Sure, they look pretty but what are the dangers of being on the receiving end of a CME?
Aweome photos of the aurora borealis have been making their rounds lately on the internet. But the magnetic field around Earth is good for more than just putting on an awesome light show.