Many coronal loops — ropey strands of plasma that scientists have long thought existed in the Sun’s atmosphere — may actually be optical illusions, according to a new paper that challenges prevailing assumptions of what we know, and don’t know, about the Sun.

NCAR has received $6.5 million in funding from NASA to launch a roughly shoebox-sized satellite into space carrying an instrument designed to measure the howling thermospheric winds, which can gust more than 300 miles per hour through the highest reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere.

A new study shows a correlation between the end of solar cycles and a switch from El Nino to La Nina conditions in the Pacific Ocean, suggesting that solar variability can drive seasonal weather variability on Earth.

In direct contradiction to the official forecast, a team of scientists led by NCAR predicts that the Sunspot Cycle that started this fall could be one of the strongest since record-keeping began.

NCAR has received funding approval to survey prospective locations for the Coronal Solar Magnetism Observatory (COSMO). This new observatory offers the potential to transform our fundamental understanding of magnetic fields in the Sun’s atmosphere and how they drive the formation of solar eruptions and other space weather that can affect technologies on Earth.