Space is a dangerous place, especially when it comes to high-energy particles, and intense solar activity can pose threats to people and technology on Earth. To address the potential dangers, NASA has provided five years' worth of funding for CLEAR, a space weather forecasting center at the University of Michigan.
The sun is anything but quiet. Its surface boils at over 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,500 degrees Celsius), with complex electric and magnetic fields twisting, winding and plunging in and out of the depths. This intricate relationship between the superheated plasma of the sun and its own magnetic fields creates the conditions for solar storms. These events — including flares, eruptions and coronal mass ejections — release tremendous amounts of energy into the solar system.
