Astronomers suggest that the crack formed due to increased activity from the Sun.
Last night, a shock wave flew to Earth, which left a crack in the planet’s magnetosphere, which protects all life from destructive cosmic radiation, writes Daily mail.
At the moment, astronomers still don’t know for sure where this shock wave is coming from, but they suggest that our Sun may have triggered it. The star may have ejected a stream of highly superheated and magnetized gas, also known as a coronal mass ejection (CME).
The gas release may have occurred in the sunspot region AR3165, which is still December 14th it has been the source of at least 8 solar flares.
While there’s no reason to panic, scientists say such holes in Earth’s magnetosphere can remain open for hours without significant consequences.
The sunspot, active since December 14, exploded with a class M6 explosion. Note that flashes of this class are of medium power, they can temporarily disable radio communications, which happened last week over the Atlantic.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded how the aforementioned sunspots ejected plasma streams one by one.
Photo: NASA
Earth’s magnetosphere stretches thousands of kilometers into space and affects everything from GPS and animal migration to the planet’s weather patterns.
The resulting crack in the magnetosphere can cause class G1 geomagnetic storms. A geomagnetic storm is a disturbance of the planet’s magnetosphere, which occurs under the influence of the solar wind.
But the scientists point out that a G1-class geomagnetic storm is the weakest possible storm.
At present, the Sun has entered the active period of its 11-year cycle. It started in 2019 and will peak in 2025.
Remember it recently On the surface of the Sun, astronomers have seen an ominous grin. On the surface of the star, in a bizarre way, three huge spots were located, directed towards the Earth.
