Large and small storms that occur on the Sun can also affect our planet Earth from time to time. While a big solar storm has affected the Earth in the past months, another storm is expected to reach our planet today. So what are the dimensions of this storm? Will it affect the world?
The US National Weather Service’s Space Weather Prediction Center reported that gaseous material began erupting from the south of the Sun’s atmosphere. It was stated that the high-speed solar winds that emerged as a result of this situation will hit the Earth’s magnetic field today, Wednesday, August 3rd. Fortunately, the size of this storm is not alarming.
Will the solar storm affect the Earth?
The storm has been classified by the Center as a ‘G1 geomagnetic storm’. While storms in this class are not expected to have a major impact, they are still known to affect power lines and some satellite functions such as GPS and mobile networks. Solar winds that will strike the Earth’s atmosphere will also cause the northern lights to appear in the region in the southern part of the Earth.
The sun is more active than expected lately:
It has been known since the discovery made in 1775 that the activity of the Sun increases and decreases at certain periods. But the Sun is showing almost twice as much activity as recent estimates. Scientists predict that the activity of the Sun will increase steadily over the coming years and will reach its highest level in 2025. After this period, activity is expected to decrease again.
The most severe solar storm to hit the Earth to date is thought to have been the ‘Carrington Event’, which occurred in 1859. The strength of this storm is described as equivalent to 10 billion 1-megaton atomic bombs. With the storm, all telegraph connections were broken around the world, and even in the Caribbean, the northern lights were seen brighter than the Moon. Re-experiencing a storm of this size could cause massive worldwide power and infrastructure blackouts, according to scientists.
How is a solar storm formed?
Solar storms are natural events that occur when high-energy particles hit the Earth as a result of eruptions and explosions in the Sun. The eruptions in question live in ‘coronal holes’, areas where the Sun’s plasma is cooler and less dense. In these holes, the Sun’s magnetic field lines emanate from their own lines and erupt into space, causing the Sun’s material to be ejected into space at a speed of 2.9 million kilometers per hour.
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