The Earth has been struck by a series of minor geomagnetic storms over the past two days, after a solar flare was sent racing towards the planet last week.
These flares emerge from the atmosphere of the sun, and can take several days to reach the Earth, making it difficult to predict the size of any impact.
The storms are unlikely to cause any damage on Earth, beyond making stunning aurora visible further south than usual, and some minor radio disruption.
Auroras happen when particles from the sun interact with gases in our atmosphere, causing beautiful displays of light in the sky. Usually visible around the poles.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there is a minor chance that remnants of the solar storm could cause aurora to be visible as far south as New York and Idaho from about 9pm ET tonight.
The Earth has been struck by a series of minor geomagnetic storms over the past two days, after a solar flare was sent racing towards the planet last week. Stock image
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there is a minor chance that remnants of the solar storm could cause aurora to be visible as far south as New York and Idaho from about 9pm ET tonight
The current storm today has been categorized as G1 by the NOA, based on the five-level solar storm scale – with five as the most extreme.
There are about 2,000 category G1 and G2 solar storms per decade, and due to the ramping up of the sun’s activity in recent years – we’re in a solar storm streak.
G2 category storms hit on Sunday and Monday, neither of which resulted in any damage, but did cause lower latitude aurora – including over northern England.
The corona outbursts, also known as coronal mass ejections, happen when magnetic field lines in the atmosphere of the sun tangle and then snap.
This snapping causes bursts of plasma to be ejected into space, and delivered throughout the solar system on solar winds – including some towards Earth.
Those particles passing by the Earth interact with and compress our planet’s magnetic field, triggering geomagnetic storms.
The current storm today has been categorized as G1 by the NOA, based on the five-level solar storm scale – with five as the most extreme. Stock image
NASA explains: ‘There are many kinds of eruptions on the sun. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections both involve gigantic explosions of energy, but are otherwise quite different.
‘The two phenomena do sometimes occur at the same time – indeed the strongest flares are almost always correlated with coronal mass ejections – but they emit different things, they look and travel differently, and they have different effects near planets.’
Stronger storms can do real damage, with a recent example bringing down 40 SpaceX Starlink satellites soon after launch.
Most of the storms are relatively mild, including this current storm, but even this could cause some problems for satellites and communication if hit directly.
Larger coronal mass ejections destined to hit the Earth directly could trigger very severe solar storms – although the last on this scale was in 1859.
This was known as the Carrington Event, which created strong aurora globally and caused sparking and even fires in multiple telegraph stations.
A modern day Carrington Event-scale solar storm could knock out electrical grids, internet hubs and even take GPS satellites offline.
Some scientists have described this possibility as an ‘internet apocalypse’ which could leave the entire planet offline for weeks or event months.
This scale of event would also cause aurora to be visible close to the equator. In 1859 during the Carrington Event, aurora were reported in Hawaii.
The sun has entered the active phase of its 11 year cycle, where more coronal mass ejections are likely – but our ability to detect them in advance has improved.
This should enable satellite operators, power utilities and other providers to make preparations, to increase shielding around delicate equipment, or move satellites.