Space weather: storms from the sun [video] | @GrrlScientist

Geomagnetic storms are newly-important kind of weather that requires a new kind of weathermanThe sun has been quite stormy recently. On Tuesday (13 March), the sun ejected yet another solar flare from the same region that has been actively spewing this past week. A solar flare is a sudden release of a large amount of energy from storms on the sun's surface, known as the corona. Solar flares consist of short, intense bursts of highly energetic charged particles -- electrons, ions, and atoms -- that are launched into space. The amount of energy released in just one solar flare can comprise as much as one-sixth of the sun's total energy output each second. For this reason, these outbursts are known amongst solar physicists as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). If a CME is sent in our direction, it typically reaches earth in one to two days. (Tuesday's CME will be a...

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