#space weather

Unlike water that falls from the sky on Earth, solar rain happens in the Sun’s corona, a region of super-hot plasma above its surface. This rain consists of cooler, denser blobs of plasma that fall back down after forming high in the coronae. For decades, scientists struggled to explain how this rain forms so quickly during solar flares.

Astronomers using the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope on Maui have captured the most detailed images ever taken of a solar flare, revealing razor-thin magnetic loops that could transform how scientists understand and predict solar storms.

A breakthrough in solar physics has been achieved atop Haleakalā, and it holds the promise of enhancing understanding of space weather and its impact on Earth’s technology-dependent society.

A four-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation will fund a project to construct a space weather station center on the UH Mānoa campus and deploy a neutron monitor on Maui.