Sun’s Fastball, Earth’s Fault Line

A cosmic siren just screamed on our doorstep: a one-minute “cow flare” gamma-ray burst unleashed more energy than the Sun emits in 10,000 years—only a few hundred million miles past Pluto. While telescopes scramble for answers, the Sun itself opens a coronal hole the size of 30 Earths, flinging a geomagnetic fastball that could rattle satellites, drag the ISS, and push auroras toward Madrid.