These are false-color photos of solar prominence loops in a magnetically active region of the Sun. The image at the bottom gives a progressive view of solar radiation all the way to Earth's atmosphere. Such radiation can be dangerous since it can disable satellites, disrupt power grids and radio communications on earth and cause intense displays of aurora over the polar regions.
The photos were taken by were taken by a suite of five telescopes on the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft, which were launched on October 25, 2006. They will soon provide full awe-inspiring 3D images of the Sun this April.
Scientists have predicted stronger solar storms starting this year with the coming peak of the 11-year storm cycle to be upon us by 2012. "We predict the next solar cycle will be 30 to 50 percent stronger than the last cycle," said Mausumi Dikpati, a solar scientist The last cycle peaked in 2001.
This is what an X-class solar flare looks like as it erupts from sunspot 930. It is a tremendous explosion from the sun and is part of the most detailed movie of such phenomenon. The footage was taken by the Japanese Hinode spacecraft, which has been dubbed the Hubble Telescope for the Sun. The telescope can see features on the sun as small as 90 miles wide from its orbit 93 million miles away. On the left are animations of the flare zone of sunspot 930. The red arrows show the direction of the sunspot's magnetic field. The area shown is twice earth's size! Click on the image above to view the color video of the explosion.
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