A powerful three-day solar storm is expected to hit Earth today and could trigger “power grid fluctuations”, experts have warned.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) noted that the geomagnetic storm, which is a major disruption to Earth’s magnetosphere, could disrupt satellite orbits, cause radio blackouts and push incredible boreal light shows up to New York.
The upcoming storm is driven by an active sunspot that has triggered at least 18 flares this week.
This is the same region that ejected a powerful flow of plasmacalled coronal mass ejection (CME), earlier this month, which disrupted communications around the world.
US government space weather experts warn that a powerful three-day solar storm will hit Earth today – following a solar flare that triggered coronal mass ejections (CMEs) towards Earth – triggering perhaps “power grid fluctuations”.
The sunspot has completed a full rotation on the sun, returning to Earth for what appears to be a few more active days.
The event is just a harbinger of high-impact solar weather to come, as the sun reaches its “solar maximum,” astrophysicists told DailyMail.com, the most energetic point in its 11-year recurring solar cycle. years, next summer in July 2025.
Category G2 or “moderate” solar storms are expected Friday and Saturday, following today’s milder events, according to NOAA, which operates the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center.
The “impact zone” will likely extend from the Earth’s poles to 55 degrees “geomagnetic latitude” — a region that includes the northern parts of Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin and Vermont.
While this puts these areas of the continental United States at some level of risk in terms of voltage issues in local electrical systems and disruptions to high-frequency radio waves, there will also be benefits.
The magnificent aerial phenomenon known as the Northern Lights, or Northern Lights, will also be visible in these areas, depending on local cloud conditions.
“Aurora can be seen as low as New York, Wisconsin, and Washington,” NOAA’s latest space weather advisory states.
Upcoming solar storm Friday and Saturday, produced by an X1.4 CME solar flare (pictured, left of center above) ejected yesterday by Sunspot AR3697. The CME from the eruption has already caused “severe radio outages” over the mid-Atlantic region, according to EarthSky.
Sunspot AR3664, now renamed AR3697, has grown to a size that now rivals the sunspot responsible for the infamous Carrington Event of 1895 – which ignited telegraph wires, cutting international communications.
Skywatchers living in these regions may want to take a few shots even if they can’t see this charged plasma light show in Earth’s upper magnetosphere, according to meteorologist Bob Henson, especially if they have a newer iPhone model.
“Some cameras (including newer iPhones) are sensitive enough to produce stunning auroral images, even when the aurora is almost or completely invisible to the naked eye,” Henson said. job on social site X earlier this month.
Although this weekend’s solar storm is expected to be less intense than ‘extreme geomagnetic conditions (G5)Of the powerful CMEs that hit Earth on May 10-13, more can be expected as the Sun approaches its most turbulent phase of its cycle.
“We could easily have much larger storms in the next couple of years,” Dr. Jonathan McDowell of the Smithsonian and Harvard Center for Astrophysics told DailyMail.com earlier this month.
Sunspot AR3664, now renamed AR3697, is the disturbance on the sun’s surface that was responsible for this May’s largest G5 solar storms and is larger than the sunspot that produced the infamous Carrington event in 1859.
Storm Carrington torched telegraph wires, cut communications around the world and even disrupted ship compasses – a story that could repeat itself, wreaking havoc on modern technology if Earth were directly hit by these larger solar storms .
The sunspot has completed a full rotation on the sun, returning to Earth for what appears to be a few more active days.
“It’s definitely a scary time for satellite operators,” Dr. McDowell said.
In recent years, it has also been proven that large geomagnetic storms are capable of destroying satellites by causing them to crash into other objects in space.
A 2022 geomagnetic storm, the last severe storm before last May, destroyed up to 40 Starlink satellites worth more than $50 million, according to the company.
The upcoming solar storm on Friday and Saturday, produced by an
WHAT IS THE SOLAR CYCLE?
The Sun is a huge ball of hot, electrically charged gas that moves, generating a powerful magnetic field.
This magnetic field goes through a cycle called the solar cycle.
About every 11 years, the Sun’s magnetic field completely reverses, meaning the sun’s north and south poles change places.
The solar cycle affects activity on the Sun’s surface, such as sunspots caused by the Sun’s magnetic fields.
Every 11 years, the Sun’s magnetic field reverses, meaning the Sun’s north and south poles change places. The solar cycle affects activity on the Sun’s surface, increasing the number of sunspots during stronger phases (2001) than during weaker phases (1996/2006).
One way to track the solar cycle is to count the number of sunspots.
The start of a solar cycle is a solar minimum, or the time when the Sun has the fewest sunspots. Over time, solar activity – and the number of sunspots – increases.
The middle of the solar cycle corresponds to solar maximum, that is to say when the Sun has the most sunspots.
At the end of the cycle, it returns to solar minimum, then a new cycle begins.
Giant flares on the Sun, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, also increase during the solar cycle.
These flares send powerful bursts of energy and matter into space that can have effects on Earth.
For example, flares can cause lights in the sky, called auroras, or impact radio communications and power grids on Earth.