The apparent void between Sun and Earth is actually a malestrom of wind and storm, with interludes of calm, always bathed in the harsh glow of ultraviolet and x-ray light. So strong is the outpouring solar wind that Earth's magnetic envelope is distorted, quivering even as it protects the fragile life on our planet. The Sun goes through cycles of high and low activity that repeat approximately every 11 years.
Sunspots are sources of flares, the most violent events in the solar system.
In a matter of minutes, a large flare releases a million times more energy than the largest earthquake. Episodic solar activity has a number of effects that are of interest to us. A radiation dose from energetic particles is an occasional hazard for astronauts and for electronics on satellites. SWO provides warnings of these events and continues the solar monitoring that began 400 years ago with Galileo's invention of the telescope.