JAKARTA, SENAYANPOST.com – Experts estimate, the devastating solar storm that hit Earth on March 8, 1582 could occur again in this century and cause severe damage.
A report from Portuguese in the 16th century, entitled “Portuguese eyewitness accounts of the great space weather event of 1582” (Portuguese eyewitness accounts of the devastating extraterrestrial weather event of 1582) describes what eyewitness Pero Ruiz Soares saw in Lisbon.
“The next day, the same thing happened again at the same hour, but not too frightening and frightening. Everyone went to the countryside to see this great omen,” wrote the report as quoted by Science Times.
Researchers also noted that a similar thing happened in feudal era Japan. People in Kyoto saw a similar appearance in the form of a fiery red sky. At that time, this event had been reported in Leipzig, Germany, South Korea, and several other European and East Asian countries.
According to NASA, during solar storms, flares and winds shoot boiling hot plasma from the sun.
This has an effect on Earth’s magnetosphere, which causes brightly colored auroras in areas that are normally invisible. Although most solar storms are harmless, large storms can cause significant electronic interference.
To note, it is important for scientists to retrace the phenomenon that was nearly five hundred years ago.
They are digging it up to learn more about the phenomenon, and such events are important indicators of the Sun’s weather patterns.
Solar storms, also known as extreme space weather, occur when the Sun releases boiling hot plasma in the form of solar gusts and winds.
While most solar storms are harmless, major storms that hit Earth have devastating consequences. Another source quoted from Universe Today, the solar storm that hit in 1909 was one of the strongest in the 20th century.
This storm caused extreme geomagnetic disturbances, caused widespread disruption of the telegraph system, and created spectacular auroras in the night sky.
Furthermore, the current solar storm also caused telegraphic communications in Earth’s lower middle latitudes to be cut off. Scientific American also reported that the power grid in Quebec, Canada was paralyzed by a “fairly high” storm.
The researchers say the study also mentions the Carrington incident in 1859, which is considered to be one of the most extreme extraterrestrial weather events ever documented.
In 1973, there was an even more devastating incident which could possibly have resulted in a death toll. Solar storms hit Earth in August of that year during the period of the Apollo lunar missions.
Fortunately, astronauts who were exploring the Moon at that time had returned home a few months earlier. As more humans travel into space, research on the behavior of solar storms is used to create better predictive models to minimize their impact. (Jo)
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