3 solar storm explosions hitting Earth, creating Aurora

Bisnis.com, JAKARTA – Three explosions sun High-velocity events known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) will interfere with Earth’s magnetic field this weekend, bringing spectacular auroras as far south as New York and Idaho.

Hitting Earth consecutively on August 9, 10, and 11, the CME will coincide with the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center ( NOAA).

Reporting from live science, if a geomagnetic storm is triggered, a solar flare will create a curtain of changing light until the bright tail of the burning Perseid star can be seen.

NOAA expects auroras this weekend in northern parts of most states along the US-Canada border, including Washington, Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota , Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York and Maine. Here is the group’s latest aurora forecast.

The third and final CME, which emerged from the Sun’s surface on August 8, “is moving faster than 1,000 km/s (2.2 million mph) and is likely to arrive no later than August 11 , making its impact on the previous two CMEs. [yang meletus pada 7 Agustus] already on its way,” according to an update from spaceweather.com.

CMEs originate from sunspots, which are regions on the sun’s surface where strong magnetic fields, created by the flow of electrical charges, go into knots before suddenly disappearing. .

A large release of energy could eject large clumps of solar material from the surface of the Sun into the Solar System. After launch, the CME travels millions of miles per hour, sweeping up charged particles from the solar wind to form a giant wave front.

This high-speed barrage of solar debris is safely absorbed by the Earth’s magnetic field, but it can still cause impressive geomagnetic storms. During these storms, the circular field lines between our planet’s north and south magnetic poles are slightly compressed by waves of high-energy particles.

These particles fall down magnetic field lines near the poles and disrupt molecules in the atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of light to create the colorful aurora known as the northern lights.

NOAA classifies geomagnetic storms from G5 to G1, from strongest to weakest. This weekend’s storm is expected to be a mild G2 class, but if the effects of the CME combine, “its effects could push the geomagnetic storm level into the G3 (strong) category with mid-Earth auroras- latitude in the US and Europe,” he wrote. space weather.

More intense geomagnetic storms could disrupt our planet’s magnetic field to the point of causing satellites to fall to Earth, and scientists have warned that severe geomagnetic storms could even destroy the Internet.

The largest solar storm in recent history was the Carrington Event in 1859, which released the energy equivalent of 10 billion 1-megaton atomic bombs. After hitting Earth, a powerful stream of solar particles fried telegraph systems around the world and caused auroras brighter than the light of a full moon to appear as far south as the Caribbean.

Scientists warn that if a similar event were to occur today, it would cause trillions of dollars in damage, trigger widespread power outages and put thousands of lives at risk. A solar storm in 1989 released billions of tons worth of gas that caused power outages across Quebec, according to NASA.

Solar storms usually increase during the peak of the sun’s 11-year cycle. Some experts believe that this solar level will be reached in 2025, but the sun’s discrepancy with recent weather forecasts has led others to believe that the maximum level may be has already arrived.

Scientists expect solar activity to continue to increase over the next few years, reaching an absolute peak in 2025 before declining again.