Massive solar storm heading towards Earth likely to hit today; may impact mobile signals, GPS, satellite TVs
This natural phenomenon takes place when a major disturbance takes place in the Earth's magnetosphere, when there is a very efficient exchange of energy from the solar wind that produces major changes in the currents, plasmas, and fields in the Earth's magnetosphere.
FollowA fierce solar storm is moving towards the Earth at a speed of 1.6 million kilometres per hour. It is feared that this storm may hit the Earth today, due to which there may be a power failure around the world, as per spaceweather.com.
As a result, wind speeds could reach 600 km/s, leading to geomagnetic storms and high latitude auroras.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has classified this storm as G-1 or 'minor'. "THE SOLAR WIND IS COMING: Later today, a high-speed stream of solar wind is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. Flowing from an equatorial hole in the sun's atmosphere, wind speeds could top 500 km/s. Full-fledged geomagnetic storms are unlikely, but lesser geomagnetic unrest could spark high latitude auroras," spaceweather.com said.
A geomagnetic storm is likely to hit Earth today. This natural phenomenon takes place when a major disturbance takes place in the Earth's magnetosphere, when there is a very efficient exchange of energy from the solar wind that produces major changes in the currents, plasmas, and fields in the Earth's magnetosphere.
The natural event can lead to disturbance in mobile phone signals and impact GPS navigation and satellite TVs. This event can also lead to transformers blowing up due to the highly condensed electrical energy within them.
The satellites in the Earth’s upper atmosphere are also expected to get impacted by the incoming flares.
According to the latest prediction of the Space Weather Prediction Centre of the United States, the storm can also lead to a blackout of high-frequency radio communication for nearly an hour in a vast area. The Centre has marked the solar flares at X1 level, ‘X’ denoting the classification and the numerical suffix denoting the strength of the flare.
Solar flares are massive explosions on the surface of the sun that release energy, light and high-speed particles into space. According to Nasa, the biggest flares are known as “X-class flares” based on a classification system that categorises solar flares as per their strength. The smallest ones fall under A-class, followed by B, C, M and X. The solar flare that is likely to hit Earth’s magnetic field today is an X-class flare.
Historically, solar storms have been known to plunge parts of the world into chaos. A solar storm in March 1989 caused a nine-hour blackout Hydro-Québec's electricity transmission system in Canada.
NOTE: Asianet News humbly requests everyone to wear masks, sanitize, maintain social distancing and get vaccinated as soon as eligible. Together we can and will break the chain #ANCares #IndiaFightsCorona
