Although the sun may appear somewhat calm from Earth, the hot ball of plasma is in fact experiencing massive bursts and explosions at increasingly irregular intervals, raising concerns among observers.
The eruptions are typically caused by any disruptions to the sun's magnetic fields, specifically by energy distortions that occur along planet-sized sunspots visible as dark spots on the surface of the sun. The occasional solar interferences result in solar flares, which are known for emitting electromagnetic radiation.
Solar flares are classified by their strength, starting from the weakest B class through C, M and the strongest X class, which can have the energy equivalent of 1 billion hydrogen bombs.
Although these solar eruptions do not pose threats to humans, solar flare events can harm satellites and have negative effects on technology such as power grids. NASA has built numerous observatories to monitor and record such flares.
‘Doomed Launch’: Dozens of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Satellites Annihilated by 'Destruction Event' From Sun
16 September 2022, 18:49 GMT
As the sun moves towards the peak of its 11-year cycle, experts predict it will eventually reach its maximum activity, leading to more frequent X-class solar flares.
Coronal holes are another aspect of the sun that NASA has been observing, areas that appear far darker in imaging as a result of their much cooler and less dense characteristics. In fact, coronal holes mark out solar areas with unipolar magnetic fields that creates the perfect environment for free-flowing solar winds.
Although coronal holes on their own are usually unable to cause an outright solar storm, they're typically given a power boost of sorts when combined with coronal mass ejections, combination that ultimately results in the phenomena known as the aurora borealis.
Filaments of solar material, including sun tornadoes and a solar polar vortex, are additional areas of interest for the US space agency.
Such filaments are fixed to magnetic field lines on the surface of the sun until they inevitably become unstable, and either fall back to the sun or burst out into space. Earlier this year, in March, a solar tornado was spotted twirling above the sun's surface in quite the stunning find by researchers.
Scott McIntosh, a solar physicist and deputy director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, told US media that such a solar prominence has appeared along the solar north pole in the same exact location every 11 solar-year cycle.
"Once every solar cycle, it forms at the 55 degree latitude and it starts to march up to the solar poles," said McIntosh. "It's very curious. There is a big 'why' question around it. Why does it only move toward the pole one time and then disappears and then comes back, magically, three or four years later in exactly the same region?"
The current solar cycle is expected to peak in 2025.