What Ancient Solar Storms Meant for Life on Earth

This photograph of the Sun, taken on December 19, 1973, during the third and final manned Skylab mission, shows one of the most spectacular solar prominences ever recorded, spanning more than 588,000 kilometres across the solar surface. Even though the Sun seems active today, new observations suggest it may have been more violent in the past (Credit : NASA)

I tour a science show around the UK and have often fancied a flame thrower based demo, theatres are not so keen though. Imagine the Sun as a flamethrower in its youth, hurling solar storms and plasma bombs into space with incredible ferocity. Scientists have just witnessed what those ancient events might look like by observing a young star similar to our infant Sun, and the findings are both alarming and fascinating. Using observations from the Hubble Space Telescope and ground observatories across three countries, researchers captured a two stage plasma eruption far more powerful than anything we see from the modern Sun, the kind of violence that may have either destroyed early life on Earth or surprisingly made it possible in the first place.

Universe Today
Go to Source