An enormous solar outburst over the weekend may produce shiny auroras right here on Earth tonight (Feb. 14).
The sun blasted a strong X-class flare into space on Saturday (Feb. 11), an outburst accompanied by an eruption of solar plasma referred to as a coronal mass ejection (CME). A few of the CME particles might hit Earth’s higher ambiance late on Valentine’s Day (Tuesday, Feb. 14) and create shining auroras, consultants mentioned.
“Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are attainable on Feb. 14 and 15 when a number of CMEs might ship glancing blows to Earth’s magnetic area,” SpaceWeather.com wrote (opens in new tab) of the occasion.
Extra exercise is perhaps coming from “quite a lot of sunspot teams [that] are current on the seen solar disk,” added the U.S. Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in a Monday (Feb. 13) update (opens in new tab). These sunspots might generate medium-sized or M-class flares within the coming days, NOAA added.
Associated: The sun just erupted with a major X-class solar flare. Here’s what it looked like on video
The sun will attain the height of its present 11-year exercise cycle round 2025, however many of the sun storms do not have an effect on us a lot. Temporary interruptions can occur in shortwave, and particles related to CMEs might supercharge auroras, that are shining lights excessive in our ambiance attributable to solar particles interacting with molecules in Earth’s ambiance.
NASA and the European Area Company (ESA) associate with telescopes all over the world to control the sun, simply in case it occurs to blast out one thing a bit stronger that will have an effect on energy strains or satellite communications.
The companies additionally run quite a lot of sun-gazing spacecraft, in addition to missions that swoop near the sun to be taught extra about its exercise. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and ESA’s Solar Orbiter pattern the solar wind — particles streaming from the sun — and try solar structures and the sun’s atmosphere from a comparatively close-up view.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a ebook about space medication. Comply with her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
