Phenomenon Sun storm happened last weekend, Sunday (7/8). magnetic field Earth was hit by the flow of the solar wind that reached speeds of more than 600 kilometers per second.
While that’s not much of a concern, solar storms often hit Earth and set off spectacular auroras.
But what makes it strange is that this phenomenon is completely unexpected.
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“This event was not in the forecast, so the resulting aurora was surprising,” according to the SpaceWeather report.
The solar wind occurs when a stream of high-energy particles and plasma can no longer be held back by the Sun’s gravity and explodes toward Earth.
Not much is known about how the Sun works. However, these emissions are thought to come from a large, bright patch on the Sun known as the ‘coronal hole’. Scientists have also done a good job of monitoring it from here on Earth.
Through this monitoring, they were able to create space weather ‘forecasts’ that could not only predict when solar storms or solar flares would occur, also known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
On Sunday morning, NASA’s Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) noticed the light solar wind flow, which increased significantly and unexpectedly throughout the day.
The cause of this solar storm is still unknown, but SpaceWeather speculates it could be the beginning of the arrival of the solar wind that is expected to come from the equatorial hole in the Sun’s atmosphere two days later.
Or it could be a missed coronal mass ejection (CME).
“A discontinuity in the solar wind data on August 7 hints at a shockwave embedded in the solar wind,” wrote Space Weather.
At the time it reported its current conditions, high-speed solar winds continued to hit Earth’s magnetic field, reaching speeds of 551.3 kilometers per second on August 9.
The good news is that the solar wind does not affect this Earth, as it is safely protected by our planet’s atmosphere.
However, if the bursts are strong, they can affect our technology, causing problems with telecommunications satellites and, in extreme cases, the power grid.
This wind is classified as a moderate G2 solar storm which is a strong solar storm. The solar storm scale starts with a rating of G1 on the lowest to G5.
Hurricane G2 could affect high-latitude power systems and could affect the spacecraft’s orbit prediction, according to reports Science Alert.
Collect 7Newssmall-scale solar storms can release 100 thousand times more energy than all the power plants on Earth can produce in one year.
Furthermore, according to Australian National University astrophysicist and cosmologist, Brad Tucker, Earthlings may see such storms more frequently because of the current solar cycle.
“Storms like this are not rare because the Sun has an 11-year cycle, with periods filled with little or more activity. Right now, there is more activity,” he said.
(can/lth)
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