Solar storm to hit Earth tomorrow as ‘cracks’ appear in planet’s magnetic field
A GEOMAGNETIC solar storm is expected to hit earth tomorrow.
In the past, similar large-scale events have played havoc with communication satellites and caused blackouts.
The storm was created last week by an explosion in the sun's atmosphere known as a solar flare, causing charged particles to make their way to our planet.
Its arrival coincides with the formation of "equinox cracks" in the Earth's magnetic field, which form around the equinoxes on March 20 and September 23 every year.
The cracks mean that star gazers are more likely to peep the Northern Lights this week over parts of Scotland and northern England, as well as parts of Michigan and Maine in the US.
Geomagnetic storms are rated on a scale of G1 to G5, with the latter being the most extreme.
This latest magnetic storm is being described as "minor" by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
"Things are all quiet for space weather, and the sun is essentially spotless," said the NOAA's Bob Rutledge, speaking to Newsweek.
Geo-havoc: The biggest geomagnetic storms ever
At their worst, geomagnetic storms have been known to cripple satellites and cause massive blackouts. These are some of the biggest ever witnessed:
- The strongest geomagnetic storm on record is the Carrington Event in 1859, anmed after Brit astronomer Richard Carrington, which electrified telegraph lines and shocked technicians, setting their papers on fire – it was visible as far as Cuba and Hawaii.
- A solar flare taht erupted on August 4, 1972, knocked out long-distance communication across some US states, according to Nasa.
- In March 1989, a powereful geomagnetic storm set off a blackout in Canada that left six million people without electricity for nine hours.
There will be a minor uptick in geomagnetic activity over the coming days, resulting in a G1 geostorm – a minor event that happens around 2,000 times every 11 years, or once every two days (in other words, frequently).
This scale is partly based on an index created from the amount of magnetic disruption a storm might produce on the ground combined with measurements of a range of auroral currents.
NOAA and Nasa keep an eye on the sun using several powerful telescopes, including the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).
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Nasa is also set to send its first space probe to the sun this summer.
The historic Parker Solar Probe mission will gather information on how the sun affects space and the environment of planets, including the Earth.
Specifically, it will trace how energy and heat move through the solar atmosphere, and explore what accelerates the solar wind as well as solar energetic particles.
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