Batten down the hatches and head for the hills! NASA reports that a Coronal Mass Ejection event, that’s a large solar storm, is headed for the Earth. Orbital satellites and observatories have detected a huge solar flare caused by a geomagnetic storm on the Sun on Sunday, ejecting a massive wave of gas and particles into space. This solar tsunami been rated as a C3-class event and originates from Sunspot 1092, which is currently facing the Earth. What does this mean to you?
Well, for starters, if you are a sky-gazer, you can expect to see some increased Northern Lights between August 3 -4. Many may be able to see the starry wonder further south than usual. The Northern Lights, a.k.a. the Aurora Borealis, is normally seen only in the higher latitudes and is caused by the collision of our Sun’s solar wind upon the Earth’s magnetic field. They often appear as shimmering green curtains of light, dancing in the heavens.
Not a sky-gazer? Well, if you use a cell phone or watch TV, which, I’m assuming most of you do, then you may notice interference and disruptions in your service the next couple of days. A strong solar flare such as this one caused by the coronal mass ejection event can harm electronic equipment, including communication satellites in orbit. Even you cable users may notice problems as most cable providers depend on satellites to distribute their programs. Such solar tsunamis differ from the solar wind, which is the constant ejection of the Sun’s matter as it burns it’s mass of hydrogen gas through nuclear fusion.
Our Sun goes through 11-year cycles of activity. During a solar maximum, there is an increase in sunspots on the surface on the Sun. These are where solar flares erupt from. The last solar maximum was in 2001. In the last few years we have been in the solar minimum, where there is hardly any sunspots. In fact, the past few years have seen extremely few sunspots. Solar flares and solar tsunamis are caused by coronal mass ejection consists of a geomagnetic storm causing super-hot gases traveling at speeds of around one-million miles per hour. Two new NASA satellites known as SOHO are positioned to provide us with an early warning of such events.
Many scientists see a direct link between sunspot activity and the Earth’s climate. Given the size and power of our Sun, it effects our climate far more than any other cause often attributed to global warming and climate change. The recent years of cool temperatures does seem to be linked with the lack of sunspot activity.
With the Sun returning to a solar maximum period, we can expect to see more coronal mass ejections, or large solar storms, over the next few years, peaking in 2013. NASA has satellites in space to give us warning. As the number and size of sunspots increase on the Sun’s surface, so too does the frequency of these solar flare events. The upcoming solar tsunami is expected to be quite strong making it a geomagnetic storm to be concerned with.
No comments:
Post a Comment