A SOLAR flare explosion that led to a radio blackout and prompted experts to warn of more fallout to come today looks set to pass.
Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration originally feared the sunburst could spark a spate of geomagnetic storms on July 11, but now say there will be near-miss, leading to little to no impact.
Radiation from the July 8 eruption of a sunspot called AR3053 resulted in a minor shortwave radio blackout over parts of the West Coast, according to Spaceweather.com
In addition to some GPS disruption, new data indicates the solar event also hurled a ‘partial halo CME’ toward Earth, per the agency.
The organization says if confirmed, the CME – or coronal mass ejection – would likely arrive today and would cause minor G1 geomagnetic storms, though it is now expected to miss.
That could result in power grid fluctuations, or have a minor impact on satellite operations.
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This class of storm also impacts migratory animals and sparks an aurora that is visible at high latitudes.
A CME occurs when a large amount of plasma is expelled from the sun’s outer layer, called the corona, according to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The Earth’s magnetic field often repels these mass particle eruptions, like an intergalactic missile flare, per NOAA.
CMEs travel outward from the Sun at speeds ranging from slower than 250kilometers per second to as fast as nearly 3000kilometers per second.
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The fastest Earth-directed CMEs can reach our planet in as little as 15-18 hours. Slower CMEs can take several days to arrive.
The Sun is going through a period of increased activity at the moment, meaning more solar storms could be in our near future.
Auroras are one of the positives of solar storms.
These solar firework displays are caused when solar wind torpedos Earth’s magnetic field, creating breathtaking green and blue displays in the sky.
The most famous example is the Northern Lights.
In the US they can typically be seen in the most northern-border states, like Maine or Montana.
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