Astronomers note that the solar wind hits Earth’s magnetic field at a speed of about 400 km per second. This solar wind was first seen radiating from the Sun on July 25, 2021, when NASA’s SDO spacecraft detected it in the Sun’s uppermost region.
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As a result, Earth is now passing through this stream of electrically charged particles and plasma, which has caused some “geomagnetic unrest” today (July 28).
Although this flow is not expected to trigger a major solar storm, it has caused some minor disturbances in the magnetosphere. The magnetosphere is the region of space around the Earth that is dominated by Earth’s magnetic field .
According to the website SpaceWeather.com, Earth crashed into the solar stream on Wednesday morning, July 28, 2021. The website says: “Earth enters a stream of solar wind flowing 400 km/s from a sinuous hole in the Sun’s atmosphere.
“The first contact in the early hours of July 28 opened a gap in Earth’s magnetic field, triggering episodes of minor geomagnetic damage (KP=4) for hours.”
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Solar winds can reach the planet in a matter of days and can turn into geomagnetic (solar) storms when they become entangled with the planet’s magnetic field. Astronomers warn of potential disruption to the power grid and satellite operations.
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