Space weather may feel distant, unfolding far above Earth in regions we never see, but its impacts can be surprisingly close to home.

The solar maximum may be over, but the sun has still been busy with activity. A powerful solar eruption is expected to hit Earth soon, according to a forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center.

The invisible forces erupting from our Sun create a chaotic environment extending far beyond what most people imagine. Space weather consists of solar particles, magnetic fields, and radiation streaming across the solar system at incredible speeds.

Carnegie's Luke Bouma presented exciting new research at the American Astronomical Society meeting revealing how large clumps of cool plasma that are trapped in an M dwarf star's magnetosphere can be used as a "space weather station" to better understand the ways that particles from stars contribute to planetary conditions.