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Scientists image the progression of a solar flare for the first time

 

We know that our sun is a busy, active star that occasionally flashes brighter than usual in electromagnetic eruptions called solar flares. Scientists also know that such flares tend to happen near to sunspots and that they seem to be associated with the movement of plasma. But there’s still much we don’t understand about the formation of flares, and in particular how to predict them, which is important for predicting space weather.

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To learn more about flares, researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have trained the Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array (EOVSA) radio telescope on the sun to capture flare activity since 2017. Now, they have released data on the first-ever flare captured moment by moment, pinpointing the exact time and place the flare burst out of the sun’s surface with the energy equivalent to 1 billion degrees Fahrenheit.

“We have been able to pinpoint the most critical location of the magnetic energy release in the corona,” Gregory Fleishman, professor of physics in NJIT’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research, said in a statement. “These are the first images that capture the microphysics of a flare — the detailed chain of processes that occur on small spatial and time scales that enable the energy conversion.”

Image of a solar flare.
Image of a solar flare. New Jersey Institute of Technology

The research has revealed that flares share processes with other astronomical phenomena like gamma-ray bursts, and are similar to processes seen in research into the generation of fusion energy. As the EOVSA instrument is able to capture images in the optical, ultraviolet, X-ray, and radio wavelengths, it was able to see the way magnetic field lines on the sun gives rise to flares.

“Microwave emission is the only mechanism that is sensitive to the coronal magnetic field environment, so the unique, high-cadence EOVSA microwave spectral observations are the key to enabling this discovery of rapid changes in the magnetic field,” Dale Gary, professor of physics at NJIT and director of EOVSA, said in the statement. “The measurement is possible because the high-energy electrons traveling in the coronal magnetic field dominantly emit their magnetic-sensitive radiation in the microwave range.”

This data helps scientists understand how erupting flares cause shock waves which can damage spacecraft and pose a threat to astronauts. In the future, the EOVSA tool will continue to capture images of the sun for researchers to investigate and will be used to create daily maps of the magnetic fields around the sun.

The findings are published in the journal Science.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
Zoox recalls robotaxis after Las Vegas crash, citing software fix
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Amazon's self-driving vehicle unit, Zoox, has issued a voluntary safety recall after one of its autonomous vehicles was involved in a minor collision in Las Vegas. The incident, which occurred in April 2025, led the company to investigate and identify a software issue affecting how the robotaxi anticipates another vehicle’s path.
The recall, affecting 270 Zoox-built vehicles, was formally filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Zoox said the issue has already been addressed through a software update that was remotely deployed to its fleet.
Zoox’s robotaxis, which operate without driving controls like a steering wheel or pedals, are part of Amazon’s entry into the autonomous driving space. According to Zoox’s safety recall report, the vehicle failed to yield to oncoming traffic while making an unprotected left turn, leading to a low-speed collision with a regular passenger car. While damage was minor, the event raised flags about the system’s behavior in complex urban scenarios.
Establishing safety and reliability remain key factors in the deployment of the relatively new autonomous ride-hailing technology. Alphabet-owned Waymo continues to lead the sector in both safety and operational scale, with services active in multiple cities including Phoenix and San Francisco. But GM’s Cruise and Ford/VW-backed Argo AI were forced to abandon operations over the past few years.
Tesla is also expected to enter the robotaxi race with the launch of its own service in June 2025, leveraging its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software. While FSD has faced heavy regulatory scrutiny through last year, safety regulations are expected to loosen under the Trump administration.
Zoox, which Amazon acquired in 2020, says it issued the recall voluntarily as part of its commitment to safety. “It’s essential that we remain transparent about our processes and the collective decisions we make,” the company said in a statement.

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Mitsubishi is officially jumping back into the U.S. electric vehicle scene—and this time, it’s not just dipping a toe. The company confirmed it will launch a brand-new battery-electric SUV in North America starting in summer 2026, marking its first fully electric model here since the quirky little i-MiEV left the stage back in 2017.
The new EV will be a compact crossover, and while Mitsubishi is keeping most of the juicy details under wraps, we do know it’ll be based on the same next-gen platform as the upcoming Nissan Leaf. That means it’ll ride on the CMF-EV architecture—the same one underpinning the Nissan Ariya—which supports ranges of up to 300+ miles. So yeah, this won’t be your average entry-level EV.
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Toyota is back in the electric SUV game with the 2026 bZ, a major refresh of its bZ4X that finally delivers on two of the biggest demands from EV drivers: more range and faster charging.
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