Space Weather

Is there more types of space weather besides the sun?

Yes there is, and it's called the Aurora Borealis.

           Also know as the northern lights, the Aurora Borealis is a natural phenomena that occurs in the polar regions of the world. It appears in many colors and looks like floating walls sometimes. (well to me it does.) It is formed when charged particles are guided by the earth's magnetic field into the atmosphere near the poles. When these particles collide with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, primarily oxygen and nitrogen, some of the energy in these collisions is transformed into visible light.

           The Sun causes these Auroras. The Sun continually emits charged particles, which are byproducts of thermonuclear reactions occurring in the sun. The charged particles make solar wind, which travels through space at speeds of 300-1,000 km/sec.- about a million miles per hour. But not quite the speed of light. The charged particles reach the earth in about two to three days.

           When the charged particles reach the earth, the magnetic field deflects the solar wind, or charged particles. The solar wind flows over the earth much like a river flows over rocks. The solar wind makes the magnetic field bend and distort, which causes the Aurora.

 

What is Coronal Mass Ejection?

         Also known as CMEs, are huge bubbles of gas threaded with magnetic field lines that are ejected from the Sun. This takes about 7 hours. All though the Sun has been studied for hundreds of years, CMEs were just discovered in about the 1970s and were discovered by using a coronagraph.
         A coronagraph produces an artificial eclipse of the Sun by placing an "occulating disk" over the image of the Sun.
         CMEs disrupt the flow of the solar wind and produce disturbances that strike the earth with sometimes catastrophic results. They are often assosiated with solar flares and prominice eruptions. The frequency of CMEs varies with the Sunspot cycle. There is usually about 1 CME a week for a minumum and 2-3 a day at maximum.

What weather is in space and sunspots?

Space weather originates from the Sun. The Sun releases matter into space like solar flares, coronal mass ejections, coronal holes, sunspots and solar prominences.
Sunspots are spots on the surface of the Sun that appear darker because they are cooler than the surrounding area. The largest sunspots observed are about 50,000 km in diameter, which is large enough to be seen with the naked eye. Sunspots usually come in groups of up to 100 sunspots. Groups of 10 sunspots are rare though.