Living next to our dynamic star

Europe's Solar Orbiter (SolO) probe is on a quest to understand what drives the Sun's dynamic behaviour. The star's activity rises and falls on an 11-year cycle. At its most active, the Sun can hurl billions of tonnes of matter and entrained magnetic fields into space. If these outbursts are directed at Earth, they can disrupt our technology. Prof Lucie Green is a SolO mission scientist at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory.