Solar storm to strike Earth today; Expect mobile, GPS, satellite disruptions
NASA has warned that the flare might have a significant impact on Earth's geomagnetic field.
A solar storm is expected to directly strike Earth on July 20, according to a recent prediction by space weather researcher Dr. Tamitha Skov. Researchers and scientists all over the world are on the edge due to the possibility of a strong solar flare striking Earth. Radio outages were said to have been brought on by a large flare on July 15.
New sunspots are expected to appear on the Earth-facing solar disc throughout the week, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts that solar flares will also be likely. These sunspots can produce powerful solar flares with an estimated X-class maximum impact that can damage GPS, create radio blackouts, or even affect cell networks.
On July 15, a strong solar flare shot radiation in our direction, disrupting GPS and causing radio blackouts all around the planet. Many people believed that was the end of it, but it now appears that a slowly moving coronal mass ejection (CME) that was released from the solar flare is on its way to Earth and will hit us
On July 19, NASA warned that the flare might have a significant impact on Earth's geomagnetic field. The organisation also warned the public to anticipate significant radio and GPS signal disruptions on the evening of July 19.
A solar flare, as defined by NASA, is a strong radiation burst that results from the discharge of charged particles from the sun's sunspots. These are referred to as bright spots on the sun's surface, and they can endure for a few hours. These flare explosions are typically caused by the sun's discharge of photons.
Although asteroids have struck Earth, there has been no documented damage. Earth was struck by a severe solar storm in March 2022. A G1-class storm made landfall there a few days later.
Studies have shown that a geomagnetic storm's intensity can be scaled from one to five, with one denoting a small storm and five denoting an extreme one. This implies that a strong flare could disrupt radio and communication in many areas.
The long snake-like filament cartwheeled its way off the #Sun in a stunning ballet. The magnetic orientation of this Earth-directed #solarstorm is going to be tough to predict. G2-level (possibly G3) conditions may occur if the magnetic field of this storm is oriented southward!” she said.
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First Published:19 Jul 2022, 03:35 PM IST
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