Stars are hot balls of plasma, but astronomers have now spotted a super strange one that may have a solid surface. Its intense magnetic field is strong enough to overcome its blistering ...

Our Sun is far from a smooth, white ball in the sky. Twisting and looping magnetic field lines rise from its surface like hair, causing dark, transient patches on the surface called sunspots ...

New images are key to understanding solar magnetic storms and other space weather that can disrupt systems on Earth.

Solar Orbiter image of the sun in visible light, taken on March 22, 2023. Sunspots are cooler than the surrounding surface. ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/PHI Team Image of the sun's magnetic field. Red ...

Just beneath the surface of the Sun. Vasil and his colleagues’ simulations showed that the Sun’s outermost reaches are made of layers of plasma, which normally rotate past each other (picture ...

This means that the Sun’s north and south magnetic poles switch places. Then it takes about another 11 years for the Sun’s north and south poles to flip back again.” ...

The sun is a white-hot ball of plasma that's boiling on its surface. This boiling region is called the "convection zone," where layers and plumes of plasma roil and flow.

The Solar Orbiter mission has captured the highest-resolution views of the sun’s surface to date, showcasing massive sunspots related to increasing solar activity.