Small areas of the sun undergo changing magnetic characteristics and the intensity and scale of these changes are linked to the sun's 11-year activity cycle. There are some indications that Earth's climate may be linked to sunspots. With increased sunspot activity comes increased solar flare activity. Solar flares are short-lived bursts of energy in small concentrated areas of the sun's surface. These flares often occur near large sunspots.
Solar flares send streams of charged particles into space.
These flares and the emissions they produce can be of great concern to manned and unmanned spacecraft. Intense solar flares can cause communications blackouts and power outages on Earth. Displays of the aurora borealis, or northern lights, are another indicator of an active sun that is producing large solar flares. When a flare occurs, charged particles stream from the site of the flare and move out into space. The particles take a day or two to travel the roughly 93 million miles to Earth.