Zongjun Ning

On December 31, 2023, the Sun unleashed a flare of the highest class — one that releases the energy of billions of atomic bombs in just a few minutes. Along with it, a huge prominence, a cloud of superheated gas, tore away from the surface and shot outward at nearly 3000 kilometers per second.

A sunspot, a dark island on the scorching surface, breathes. Every three minutes, a wave spreads from it, runs along an invisible magnetic arch, and makes the plasma above a neighboring spot flare with a radio signal. Radio telescopes caught seven such flares in a row on February 14, 2024.

A tightly twisted phone cord snaps and scatters sparks. Magnetic fields on the Sun behave the same way: they twist, break, and reconnect, powering flares. For the first time, astronomers have witnessed this process directly. One loop was twisted by 540 degrees — one full turn and then half again. That’s three times more than previously thought possible.