{"id":223109,"date":"2026-01-06T08:05:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T08:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/223109\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T08:05:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T08:05:14","slug":"longest-observation-of-an-active-solar-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/223109\/","title":{"rendered":"Longest observation of an active solar region"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\"Solar<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

image:\u00a0<\/p>\n

The European space probe Solar Orbiter delivers images of the sun, including observations of what is, from our perspective,\u00a0its\u00a0far side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

view more\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Credit: ESA \/ AOES<\/p>\n

Our sun rotates around its axis once every 28 days. From\u00a0earth,\u00a0therefore,\u00a0active regions of\u00a0the sun can\u00a0only\u00a0be\u00a0observed\u00a0for up to two weeks\u00a0at a time.\u00a0After this,\u00a0they rotate\u00a0beyond\u00a0our field of\u00a0view,\u00a0remaining\u00a0hidden\u00a0from us\u00a0for two weeks.\u00a0\u201cFortunately, the Solar Orbiter mission,\u00a0launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2020,\u00a0has broadened our perspective,\u201d says Ioannis Kontogiannis, solar physicist at ETH Zurich and the\u00a0Istituto ricerche solari Aldo e Cele Dacc\u00f2<\/a>\u00a0(IRSOL)\u00a0in\u00a0Locarno.<\/p>\n

The Solar Orbiter spacecraft orbits the\u00a0sun once every six months,\u00a0also\u00a0observing\u00a0its far side. Between April and July 2024, it was able to\u00a0monitor\u00a0one of the most active regions in the last twenty years. In May 2024, the region known as NOAA 13664 rotated to the side of the\u00a0sun facing us, triggering the strongest geomagnetic storms on Earth since 2003.\u00a0\u201cThis region caused the spectacular aurora borealis that\u00a0was visible\u00a0as far south as\u00a0Switzerland,\u201d\u00a0says Louise Harra, professor at ETH Zurich and director of the Davos Physical Meteorological Observatory.<\/p>\n

Data from two space probes combined<\/p>\n

To better understand the formation,\u00a0development\u00a0and effects of such\u00a0superactive\u00a0regions on the\u00a0sun, Harra and Kontogiannis\u00a0brought\u00a0together\u00a0an international team\u00a0of\u00a0researchers. This\u00a0team\u00a0combined the data collected by NOAA 13664\u2019s Solar Orbiter on the far side of the\u00a0sun with\u00a0data\u00a0from NASA\u2019s Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft, which is\u00a0located\u00a0on the\u00a0earth\u2013sun line and\u00a0observes\u00a0the near side.<\/p>\n

This allowed the group to track region NOAA 13664\u00a0almost continuously\u00a0for 94 days.\u00a0\u201cThis is the longest continuous series of images ever created for a single active region: it\u2019s a milestone in solar physics,\u201d\u00a0says Kontogiannis. The team observed the birth of NOAA 13664 on 16 April 2024 on the far side of the\u00a0sun, as well as all the changes that the active region underwent until its decay after 18 July 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Complex magnetic fields causing\u00a0solar storms<\/p>\n

Strong and complex magnetic fields prevail in the active regions of the\u00a0sun. They\u00a0occur\u00a0when strongly magnetised plasma reaches the\u00a0sun\u2019s surface, and\u00a0they\u00a0often cause violent eruptions. These solar storms emit enormous amounts of electromagnetic radiation, known as flares, and eject plasma from the sun\u2019s atmosphere as well as high-energy particles into space.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to auroras, solar storms can also cause\u00a0significant damage\u00a0to\u00a0our high-tech world.\u00a0They can cause power outages on\u00a0earth, disrupt communication signals, expose\u00a0aircraft\u00a0crews to increased radiation or cause satellites to crash, as\u00a0happened in February 2022, when 38 of 49 Starlink satellites belonging to US space company SpaceX were lost within two days of their launch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unnerving effects\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEven signals on railway lines can be affected and switch from red to green or vice versa,\u201d\u00a0says Harra.\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s\u00a0really\u00a0scary.\u201d\u00a0NOAA 13664 also had\u00a0caused problems\u00a0in May 2024.\u00a0\u201cModern digital agriculture was particularly affected,\u201d\u00a0says the scientist.\u00a0\u201cSignals from satellites, drones and sensors were disrupted, causing farmers to lose working days and leading to crop failures with considerable economic losses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good reminder\u00a0that the\u00a0sun is the only star that influences our activities,\u201d\u00a0adds Kontogiannis.\u00a0\u201cWe live with this star, so it\u2019s\u00a0really\u00a0important\u00a0we\u00a0observe it and try to understand how it works and how it affects our environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to data from space probes, researchers were able to track three solar rotations\u00a0for the first time\u00a0ever,\u00a0observing\u00a0how the magnetic field of a\u00a0superactive\u00a0region developed\u00a0over\u00a0several episodes,\u00a0becoming\u00a0increasingly complex.\u00a0Ultimately, an\u00a0intertwined magnetic structure\u00a0was\u00a0formed,\u00a0before the strongest flare\u00a0in\u00a0the past twenty years\u00a0was released\u00a0on the far side of the\u00a0sun on 20 May 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Weather\u00a0forecasts in space<\/p>\n

It is hoped that these observations\u00a0will\u00a0contribute to a better understanding of solar storms and their potential impact on\u00a0earth. The aim is to improve the accuracy of space weather forecasts,\u00a0so that sensitive modern technology can be better protected.\u00a0\u201cWhen we see a region on the\u00a0sun with an extremely complex magnetic field, we can assume that there is a large amount of energy there that\u00a0will have to\u00a0be released\u00a0as\u00a0solar storms,\u201d explains Harra.<\/p>\n

Currently, however, researchers are unable to predict how large an eruption will be, whether there will be one strong eruption or several weaker ones, and when these\u00a0might\u00a0occur.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re not there yet. But we\u2019re currently developing a new space probe at ESA called Vigil which will be dedicated exclusively to improving our understanding of space weather,\u201d says the scientist. The mission is planned for\u00a0launch in\u00a02031.<\/p>\n

Reference<\/p>\n

Kontogiannis I, Zhu Y, Barczynski K, Stiefel M, Collier H,\u00a0McKevitt\u00a0J, Castellanos\u00a0Dur\u00e0n\u00a0J,\u00a0Berdyugina\u00a0S, Harra L.\u00a0Near-continuous\u00a0tracking\u00a0of\u00a0solar\u00a0active\u00a0region\u00a0NOAA 13664\u00a0over\u00a0three\u00a0solar\u00a0rotations.\u00a0Astronomy &\u00a0Astrophysics,\u00a0Volume\u00a0704, Dezember 2025,\u00a0doi:\u00a010.1051\/0004-6361\/202556136<\/a><\/p>\n

Journal<\/p>\n

Astronomy and Astrophysics<\/p>\n

Article Title<\/p>\n

Near-continuous tracking of solar active region NOAA 13664 over three solar rotations<\/p>\n

Article Publication Date<\/p>\n

5-Dec-2025<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"image:\u00a0 The European space probe Solar Orbiter delivers images of the sun, including observations of what is, from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[85,46,141,145],"class_list":["post-223109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}