The Parker Solar Probe, designed, built, and operated by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, captured the images during its closest approach in December 2024

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured sunspot AR3386 blast a long-duration X1.6-class solar flare and X1 flare. See time-lapses of the flares in multiple wavelengths. Credit Space.com | footage c

How far away it is: 93 million miles (150 million km)

Scientists said the sun is now in its solar maximum, or the peak of its 11-year solar cycle. Hotspots ranked Start the day smarter ☀️ Funniest cap messages Get the USA TODAY app

Thousands of solar tornadoes swirl above the sun’s surface at any given moment. These remarkable photos give us a glimpse at these stunning cosmic phenomena.

“Some point in the last five years or so, we crossed an invisible line where it became cheaper to generate power from the sun and the wind than it did from setting coal and gas and oil on fire. That's an epochal moment in human history,” McKibben said.

ESA's Solar Orbiter captured a "tube of cooler atmospheric gases snaking its way through the Sun’s magnetic field," according to ESA. See it "slither" in these time-lapsed views. Credit: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team;

The Lime Kiln project, developed by Chaberton Energy and owned by Pivot Energy, has built more than 5,000 solar panels across 13 acres. The panels were officially turned on in April.