Solar Activity
Most people just look up at the sun and enjoy the warmth and brightness of the light. Without the sun there would be no life on earth. If a person took the time to analyze it, he or she would find more than bright light and warm weather. The sun is very active with solar cycles, sunspots, and most of all solar flares. It is amazing how much the suns activity can affect us on Earth.
A solar cycle is when the sun's magnetic field rotates a full 360 degrees, causing its poles to switch. This solar magnetic activity cycle or solar cycle has been active for hundreds of millions of years. A solar cycle can be as short as nine years or as long as fourteen years, with an average of about eleven years (Zell). A solar cycle is observed by counting frequency and placement of sunspots visible on the sun. Solar cycles are periodic changes in the sun’s activity, changes in levels of solar radiation, and changes in levels of ejection of solar matter. The sun is currently in solar cycle twenty-four (Millis). There are phases of solar minimum and solar maximum. During solar minimum, the sun is the least active. Solar maximum is the period of highest activity. The sun is currently in the middle of a very active phase with a high number of sunspot and solar flares. The last time the sun was this active was August 28 through September 2, 1859 (Millis). These solar cycles create sunspots.
Sunspots evolve rapidly, are temporary, and are caused by a magnetic disruption on the surface of the sun, which appear as dark regions in that area. They can slow down the flow of energy from inside of the sun, causing the sunspots to be cooler. They look darker due to the fact they are cooler in temperature than the regions surrounding them. But are they dark? No, they just appear that way. The temperature of the sun’s surface is 5,500 degrees Celsius while sunspots range from 2,727 – 4,227 degrees Celsius (Zell). Sunspots are huge, as large as planets, the largest one being approximately 20 times the size of earth. Some of the larger ones are visible from earth without the aid of a telescope or other device. Sunspots get bigger and smaller as they move across the sun. They usually appear in pairs, on either side of the sun’s equator, and usually last from a few days to a few months.
Shifty magnetic fields at the sun surface make it unstable; this instability leads to eruptions of radiation on the sun, called solar flares (Zell). Solar flares are also known as corneal loops, like explosions at the surface. Solar flares often occur at the same time as coronal mass ejections, where a chunk of the sun breaks off from its atmosphere. The biggest flares can be tens of times the size of the Earth. When there is a coronal mass ejection, high-energy particles can travel at over 1,000 miles per second (Zell). These explosions in the sun lead to high speed solar winds. Solar flares cause a sudden brightening over the sun surface. Energy is released as explosions of magnetic force caused by an increase of matter from the sun and sends charged particles towards Earth. Most particles are captured by the Earth’s magnetic field. Many of these charged particles are attached to the poles (Millis). The charged particles interact with Earth’s upper atmosphere causing bright colorful lights that appear as fireworks across the dark artic skies, known as the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights.
Solar flares can affect many aspects of our life, including air travel, GPS; emergency broadcast system, financial services, and power grids (Millis). Some solar flares are big and considered strong magnetic fields that hit Earth’s atmosphere and disrupt the ionosphere, the very upper part of the atmosphere. Radio waves travel though the ionosphere. A disruption in this part of the atmosphere can cause high and low radio frequency signals to become jammed. This could cause background static in satellites and cause them not to operate correctly. Solar flares can cause radio blackouts. Astronauts and pilots, who are not inside of the earth’s atmosphere, are in greater danger from solar flares. They are exposed to more of the radtion and charged particles. Their risk of cancer is increased, and they have a risk of eye damage from energy protons (Zell). Solar flares can heat up the atmosphere of the Earth and can cause extreme weather. In winter, the sun will send earth a few solar flares and the Earth will warm up, causing snow to melt at unexpected times. The sun should never be observed directly, either with or without an optical instrument. It is very powerful and could burn the retina of the eye, causing blindness.
It is amazing how much the sun affects us on Earth. Scientists estimate the sun has enough fuel to last only another five billion years or so. When the sun runs out of fuel, it is expected to swell up and swallow earth, destroying mankind. A billion years after this occurs, the sun will suddenly collapse to a small heatless mass (Millis). The sun is a very active star. Not only does it keep the earth warm and make life on earth possible, it creates sunspots, goes through solar cycles, and emits solar flares. Together, these three things can be beautiful and sometimes dangerous to earth and its inhabitants. All of these activities are very intriguing to scientists as they try to anticipate what will happen next and figure out how to protect the human population. I am sure no one will know when the sun will destroy Earth. Just thinking about it makes me fear for the future past my kids and their kids. This makes me think, have we as a people gone through this before?

Works Cited
Millis, John P. A History of Massive Solar Storms. N.D. 26 February 2013.
Zell, Holy. The Sun-Earth connection: Heliophysics Solar Storm and Space Weather.
25 April 2012. 26 February 2013.