A canyon-like hole in the Sun’s atmosphere has reportedly opened and could be launched Sunstorm at high speed in a magnetic field Land from Thursday (1/12) to Friday (2/12).
The hole in the Sun’s corona looks like a giant chasm or valley running through the center of the star.
The hole is an area in the Sun’s upper atmosphere with electric gas (or plasma) that is no hotter or denser than elsewhere. Makes her look black.
Around these holes, the sun’s magnetic field lines instead of rotating backwards point out into space, radiating solar material outward at speeds of up to 2.9 million km/h, according to a report from the Exploratorium. a science museum in San Francisco.
This string of solar energy “debris,” consisting mostly of electrons, protons, and alpha particles, is absorbed by the Earth’s magnetic field, then compressed, triggering a geomagnetic storm.
Solar particles would penetrate the atmosphere near the poles, where they are Earth’s weakest protective magnetosphere and kick up oxygen and nitrogen molecules.
This causes them to release energy in the form of light to form colorful auroras, according to reports Space weather.
Storms that could hit Earth today would likely be quite mild. Forecast as a G-1 geomagnetic storm, this storm could cause small fluctuations in power grids and disrupt some satellite functions, including mobile devices and GPS systems.
Solar storms can also cause auroras to appear as far south as Michigan and Maine, according to reports Weather boy.
More extreme geomagnetic storms can have far more severe effects. Not only can these phenomena bend our planet’s magnetic field strong enough to knock satellites down to Earth, they can also disrupt electrical systems and even cripple the internet.
Geomagnetic storms can also come from two other forms of solar activity: coronal mass ejections (CMEs) or solar flares.
Debris blasting from the sun in the form of CMEs usually takes 15 to 18 hours to reach Earth, according to Space Weather Prediction Center.
Brilliant solar flares, which can cause radio frequency blackouts, travel at the speed of light to reach Earth in just 8 minutes.
quoted Live scienceThe incoming storm is just the latest in a series of solar flares fired at Earth as the sun rises in the most active phase of its roughly 11-year solar cycle.
Since 1775, astronomers have known that solar activity has deep cycles of ups and downs. It was recently discovered that the Sun has become more active than expected, with the appearance of sunspots nearly doubling as predicted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Scientists predict that solar activity will continue to increase over the next few years, reaching an overall maximum in 2025 before declining again.
The largest solar storm in recent history was the Carrington event of 1859, which released an energy equivalent to about 10 billion 1-megaton atomic bombs.
After hitting Earth, a powerful stream of solar particles damaged telegraph systems around the world and caused auroras brighter than the light of a full moon to appear as far away as the Caribbean.
It also released a billion-ton gas explosion and caused power outages throughout the Canadian province of Quebec.
If a similar event happened today, scientists warn it would cause trillions of dollars in damage and trigger widespread power outages, such as the 1989 solar storm that unleashed a billion-ton gas plume and caused power outages. in entire Canadian provinces.
(can/arh)
