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Look out for a total solar eclipse, more solar flares, and the Parker Solar Probe’s closest approach to the sun.

01/05/24 Solar Activity Flares Up In 2024 12:07 minutes Read Transcript Listen on SoundCloud More from this broadcast Subscribe to Science Friday Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Subscribe on Overcast Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Youtube Music Subscribe on Pocket Casts Part of the rocket that carried the Parker Solar Probe before its launch. Credit: NASA Look out 2024—this is going to be the sun’s year (for science, at least). There will be a total solar eclipse on April 8, and scientists are seeking volunteers to help them observe the event. Researchers also expect an uptick in solar activity—that means more sunspots and solar flares, which could increase the amount of auroras the Earth experiences and also might disrupt satellites and power systems on the ground. Plus, NASA’s Parker Solar probe is on track to make its closest pass to the sun yet in December, a mere 3.8 million miles from its surface. Umair Irfan, staff writer with Vox, sits down with Ira to talk about these and other science stories from this week, including why greenhouse gas emissions might actually start to fall this year, research showing that apes are able to recognize each other after decades apart, and the discovery of an enzyme that makes your pee yellow. Further Reading Check out our explainer for guidance on how to safely view the 2024 total solar eclipse. To teach their kids about how solar activity works, we recommend this educational activity for making a star with food coloring and shaving cream. Donate To Science Friday Invest in quality science journalism by making a donation to Science Friday. Donate Segment Guests Umair Irfan Umair Irfan is a freelance science reporter based in Washington, D.C. More From Guest Segment Transcript IRA FLATOW: This is Science Friday. I’m Ira Flatow. Later in the hour, we’re going to look at 50 years of the Endangered Species Act, how it’s helped preserve plant and animal species that were on the brink of extinction, and the status of the act now. But first, put on your sunglasses because 2024 is the sun’s time to shine. Vox staff writer Umair Irfan is here to talk sun science and other big stories of the week. Welcome back, Umair. UMAIR IRFAN: Hi, Ira. Thanks for having me. IRA FLATOW: Nice to have you. So 2024 is going to be a big year for the sun. And we’re going to have a solar eclipse. Let’s get into that. But first, let’s talk about perihelion day, January 2, because it’s sort of a teaching moment for me. It illustrates a point about why it’s hotter in the summer than in the winter. UMAIR IRFAN: That’s right. The perihelion day is the point in which Earth’s orbit is closest to the sun. And even though it’s winter here in the northern hemisphere, that’s actually– on January 2 was the point where we were actually the closest to the sun. So that indicates that our seasons don’t actually have to do with how close we are to the sun but rather how the hemispheres are oriented or tilted in the orbit. IRA FLATOW: Yeah, tilt of the Earth. All right, let’s get into the big solar news that’s coming up later– a total solar eclipse on April 8? UMAIR IRFAN: Yeah, that’s right. I mean, I think a lot of people are really excited about this. And scientists are excited about it too because it’s an opportunity to study a lot of solar phenomena without the sun’s big, bright disk blocking the way. So this year, scientists are raring to go with a lot of experiments. They’re going to be chasing the eclipse with aircraft that can observe it above a lot of atmospheric distortion. But also, they are going to be recruiting scientists on the ground. There’s an initiative called the Citizen Continental America Telescopic Eclipse Experiment. And that’s going to have 40 identical setups along the path of the eclipse here in the United States. And crucially, they’re going to be training ordinary people, community scientists, and citizen scientists to be doing these observations. And the idea is if we can follow the eclipse, taking a lot of snapshots from the ground from different angles at different points along the path, we can gain a lot more sharper of a picture of what’s going on with the sun. And the National Science Foundation and NASA are teaming up to provide them with training and resources as well. And you can still apply if you look up and go to their website. IRA FLATOW: That is cool. And the sun is expected to get a lot more active this year, right? UMAIR IRFAN: Right. The sun has already been pretty active. Just on New Year’s Eve, we saw a coronal mass ejection. This is basically a big bubble of plasma that sends a burst of solar wind towards the Earth. The sun is actually heading towards the peak of its 11-year cycle, the solar maximum. And that leads to more sunspots and more events like flares and coronal mass ejections. For us here on Earth, the consequences typically are very spectacular– auroras. But if these events can get severe enough, they can cause geomagnetic storms, which can lead to interf...