Zoian Bailey
After a night of spectacular aurora borealis across much of the United States and Europe on Friday, the severe geomagnetic storm is likely to continue through at least Sunday, forecasters said.
The U.S.-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Prediction Center’s Space Weather Prediction Center observed “extreme” G5 conditions persisting as of Saturday morning due to increased solar activity.
“The threat of further powerful flares and CMEs (coronal mass ejections) will continue until the large, magnetically complex sunspot cloud rotates out of sight over the next few days.” The agency posted the latest information Saturday morning on social media site X.
good and bad effects
For many observers, Friday night’s increase in solar activity was welcome. The United States, Europe, and other large areas unaccustomed to viewing aurora borealis saw the bright lights as energetically charged particles from solar storms pass through Earth’s atmosphere. Bright pink skies were observed as far south as Texas. Given the ongoing solar activity forecast, the aurora borealis could be extended again on Saturday night.
There were also some drawbacks. NOAA said there was an abnormality in the electrical grid’s transmission of electricity, causing a drop in satellite communications and GPS services. Users of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet constellation reported Download speed is slow.Early Saturday morning, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said: The company’s Starlink satellites are “under tremendous pressure, but are holding up so far.”
This is the most intense solar storm recorded in more than 20 years. The last G5 event, the most extreme type of such storm, occurred in October 2003, when power problems were reported in Sweden and South Africa.
If this storm intensifies over the next day or two, the main risks include broader power outages, satellite failure and long-term damage to GPS networks, scientists said.
Causes of these storms
Such storms are caused when the Sun emits large amounts of magnetic field and plasma into the solar wind. The underlying causes of these coronal mass ejections deep within the Sun are not completely understood. However, data collected by NASA is expected. parker solar probe Such observations can help scientists better understand and predict such phenomena.
When these coronal mass ejections reach the Earth’s magnetic field, they can change the field and cause large amounts of current to flow into power lines and transformers, leading to damage and power outages.
The most powerful geomagnetic storm occurred in 1859 during the so-called Carrington phenomenon. This caused aurora borealis around the world and fires at multiple telegraph stations. At that time, there were 125,000 miles of telegraph lines in the world.
according to 1 research paper Carrington Events said, “At its peak, the aurora borealis was described as a blood-like or crimson red, bright enough to ‘read a newspaper.'”