REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA—The sun produces more than 160 spots sun in the month of June. That is the highest monthly number in more than two decades.
The data confirm that the current solar cycle, the 25th since records began, is increasing in intensity at a much faster rate than predicted by the United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). ).
This sparked fears of weather events outer space severe in the months and years to come.
While the space agency estimated the number of monthly sunspots during its 25th solar cycle maximum to be 125, the star is now on a trajectory to peak below 200. sunspots months, and some scientists think this peak may arrive in as little as one year.
“Highest monthly average number of sunspots since September 2002!” tweeted solar physicist Keith Strong on Sunday (2/7/2023), reported by Space, Tuesday (4/7/2023). “June 2023 sunspot count was 163.4 the highest value in over 20 years.”
On Sunday (2/7/2023), one of these sunspots, darker and cooler areas on the star’s surface that display a dense and strong magnetic field, produced powerful solar flares, energetic flashes of light, which caused radio blackouts. while in the west.
US and over the Pacific Ocean, according to Spaceweather.com. Such events may become more common in the near future as the solar cycle approaches its highest number. Contrary to original estimates by NASA and NOAA, these highs may be somewhat fiery.
More sunspots not only mean more solar flares but also more coronal mass ejections, the powerful eruptions of charged particles that make up the solar wind. That could mean bad space weather on Earth. Strong bursts of solar wind can penetrate the Earth’s magnetic field and increase the charge of particles in the Earth’s atmosphere, which triggers dazzling aurora displays, but also causes serious problems to power grids and satellites in Earth’s orbit.
Tom Berger, solar physicist and director of the Space Weather Technology Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, told Space.com in a previous interview that after a massive solar storm that hit Earth in October 2003, satellite operators lost track of hundreds of spacecraft over several days.
This is due to the increased density of gases in the upper layers of the atmosphere which correspond to the low Earth orbit region where many satellites, as well as the International Space Station, are located.
As the thin gas in this region interacts with the solar wind, the atmosphere swells, causing satellites to suddenly encounter more drag, or resistance, than they would in the calm weather of outer space.
“In the largest storms, the error in the orbital trajectory becomes so large that, in effect, the catalog of orbital objects becomes invalid,” Berger told Space.com. “These objects can be tens of kilometers from the last position found by radar. They are basically lost, and the only solution is to find them again with radar.”
2023-07-04 10:39:38
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