Thankfully, our sun's sunspot activity occurs along an approximate 11-year cycle, giving us some indication of when to expect this solar weather.

That, in turn, will trigger the expansion of the outer envelope (atmosphere), and the sun morphs into a red giant. Once the sun enters that "bloating" phase, it will engulf the nearest worlds.

When the Sun runs out of hydrogen fuel and expands into a red giant, it will eventually encompass the innermost planets of the solar system, out to about Earth’s orbit.

These best-yet images of the nearby star R Doradus show giant plasma bubbles 75 times bigger than our sun rising and sinking on its surface. (Image credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/W. Vlemmings et al ...