Photo Courtesy of NASA
Earth braces for biggest space storm in five years
WASHINGTON - A pair of scorching explosions on the Sun's surface is sparking the biggest radiation and geomagnetic storm the Earth has experienced in five years, space weather experts said Wednesday.
The storm, expected to hit Earth early Thursday US time and last through Friday, may disrupt power grids, GPS systems and satellites, and has already forced some airlines to change their routes around the polar regions. In addition to possibly garbling some of Earthlings' most prized gadgets, the event will likely give nighttime viewers in parts of Central Asia a prime look at the aurora borealis, or northern lights, on Thursday night.
The fuss began late Sunday at an active region on the Sun known as 1429, with a big solar flare that was associated with a burst of solar wind and plasma known as a coronal mass ejection that hurtled in Earth's direction at some four million miles per hour (6.4 million kilometers per hour). Another solar flare and CME followed at 0024 GMT on March 7, setting off a strong geomagnetic and solar radiation storm, both at level three on a five-step scale.
NASA said the second flare -- classified in the potent X class -- was one of the largest of this cycle known as the solar minimum which began in early 2007, and fell in just behind a slightly stronger one which erupted in August. "The current increase in the number of X-class flares is part of the Sun's normal 11-year solar cycle, during which activity on the Sun ramps up to solar maximum, which is expected to peak in late 2013," the US space agency said. The solar flares alone caused brief high frequency radio blackouts that have now passed, according to NOAA.
Geomagnetic and radiation storms will grow more frequent as the Sun leaves its solar minimum period and moves into a solar maximum over the coming years, but people on Earth are generally protected by our planet's magnetic field.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The largest solar flare in five years is racing toward Earth, threatening to unleash a torrent of charged particles that could disrupt power grids, GPS and airplane flights.
The sun erupted Tuesday evening, and the effects should start smacking Earth around 7 a.m. EST Thursday, according to forecasters at the federal government's Space Weather Prediction Center. They say the flare is growing as it speeds outward from the sun.
The solar storm is likely to last through Friday morning, but the region that erupted can still send more blasts our way. Another set of active sunspots is ready to aim at Earth right after this. But for now, scientists are waiting to see what happens Thursday when the charged particles hit Earth at 4 million mph. The storm is coming after an earlier and weaker solar eruption happened Sunday.
This newer blast of particles will probably arrive slightly later than forecasters first thought. That means for North America the "good" part of a solar storm — the one that creates more noticeable auroras or Northern Lights — will peak on Thursday evening. Auroras could dip as far south as the Great Lakes states, but a full moon will make them harder to see.
But there is the potential for widespread problems. Solar storms have three ways they can disrupt technology on Earth: with magnetic, radio and radiation emissions. This is an unusual situation when all three types of solar storm disruptions are likely to be strong.
The magnetic part of the storm has the potential to trip electrical power grids.Power companies around the Earth have been alerted for possible outages. The timing and speed of the storm determines whether it will knock off power grids.
In 1989, a strong solar storm knocked out the power grid in Quebec, causing 6 million people to lose power. Solar storms can also make global positioning systems less accurate, which is mostly a problem for precision drilling and other technologies. There also could be GPS outages.
The storm also can cause communication problems and added radiation around the north and south poles which will probably force airlines to reroute flights. Some already have done so.
Click here to read full text.
The sun erupted Tuesday evening, and the effects should start smacking Earth around 7 a.m. EST Thursday, according to forecasters at the federal government's Space Weather Prediction Center. They say the flare is growing as it speeds outward from the sun.
The solar storm is likely to last through Friday morning, but the region that erupted can still send more blasts our way. Another set of active sunspots is ready to aim at Earth right after this. But for now, scientists are waiting to see what happens Thursday when the charged particles hit Earth at 4 million mph. The storm is coming after an earlier and weaker solar eruption happened Sunday.
This newer blast of particles will probably arrive slightly later than forecasters first thought. That means for North America the "good" part of a solar storm — the one that creates more noticeable auroras or Northern Lights — will peak on Thursday evening. Auroras could dip as far south as the Great Lakes states, but a full moon will make them harder to see.
But there is the potential for widespread problems. Solar storms have three ways they can disrupt technology on Earth: with magnetic, radio and radiation emissions. This is an unusual situation when all three types of solar storm disruptions are likely to be strong.
The magnetic part of the storm has the potential to trip electrical power grids.Power companies around the Earth have been alerted for possible outages. The timing and speed of the storm determines whether it will knock off power grids.
In 1989, a strong solar storm knocked out the power grid in Quebec, causing 6 million people to lose power. Solar storms can also make global positioning systems less accurate, which is mostly a problem for precision drilling and other technologies. There also could be GPS outages.
The storm also can cause communication problems and added radiation around the north and south poles which will probably force airlines to reroute flights. Some already have done so.
Click here to read full text.
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