A solar storm could hit the Earth’s magnetic field, suggests the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This solar flare can hit the planet on Tuesday and Wednesday. Additionally, the storm is coming towards the Earth with a speed of 1.6 million km/h. This can impact the communication signals and supply of electricity in various parts of the world.
The storm has originated from the atmosphere of the sun, as per the website SpaceWeather.com. Besides, the report also reads that a hole has opened in the sun’s atmosphere, and it is this hole that is spewing solar winds in the direction of the Earth.
Additionally, the same could also impact the GPS and mobile signals in the different parts of the world. Moreover, the massive solar flare may also affect the satellites operating in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. This flare also has the power of impacting the large power grids in some parts across the world.
This news on solar flare comes only a week after the sun ejected one of the most prominent flares in the last four years. Additionally, this flare caused a radio blackout in the Atlantic region. The top of the Earth’s atmosphere was ionized by the X-class solar flare, which led to a shortwave radio blackout over the Atlantic ocean.
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What Exactly Is A Solar Flare?
Solar flares occur due to alterations in the magnetic field on the sunspots that result in massive explosions. The phenomenon is sudden, rapid as well as intense. The radiations after the explosion tend to radiate the waves to the lengths and breadths of the universe. Besides, these radiations also contain gamma rays, radio waves as well as x-rays.
According to different sources, these solar flares can travel at a very high speed. Their speed could be as fast as 500 km/second.
As per NASA, the most oversized flares are known as “X-class flares.” Most miniature flares fall under the A-class. Their strength categorizes these. There are types of X-class flares as well, called X2 and X3.
People at the north and the south pole can also witness beautiful celestial lightings during the night hours.
The storms have hit the planet before as well. Hence it is no new thing to the Earth. However, these could cause trouble. We had an example of such an incident when a solar storm caused a 9-hours blackout in the electricity transmission system in Canada in 1989.
