Life on Earth is dependent on the sun's heat. When that radiation goes out of control, billions of tons of charged solar material suddenly come barreling our way, and what happens? When a solar flare hits our planet, what happens to life as we know it?
The answers are complex, but most scientists agree that Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere keep us protected from the most powerful solar eruptions. While solar storms can affect radar and radio systems, the most harmful radiation is sopped up in the sky before it hits humans.
Alex Young is the Associate Director for Science in the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Young said in a video that the effect is not enough to damage the atmosphere and that we are no longer protected.
Some solar flares are not harmful. The power grids, internet connections and other communication devices on Earth could be disrupted due to the sheer power of a flare. NASA and other agencies keep a close eye on the sun for potential hazardous activity.
There are solar flares when the sun's magnetic field lines become taut and twisted. These storms are known as sun spots. Powerful flashes of energy or solar flares can be created by huge tendrils of magnetic field lines.
According to Live Science, most of the energy from a solar flare is absorbed by the sun. The intense energy of a flare can heat up nearby gas in the sun's atmosphere and cause huge blobs of charged particles to fly out into space. If a flaring sunspot happens to be facing Earth, then any resulting CMEs blast right toward us, typically hitting our planet in about 15 hours.
Depending on where we are in the sun's 11-year cycle of activity, the sun emits from one to several a day. The general public doesn't know most of the things that pass over our planet.
A geomagnetic storm happens when the biggest, most energetic CMEs compress our planet's magnetic field.
The effects of the sun's rays can be seen around the world. The northern lights can shift down so far that they can be seen near the equator.
It is possible for radio and radar systems to black out around the world. Some experts fear that overloading the internet cables could cause an internet apocalypse and leave parts of the world without internet access for weeks or months. Satellites and space stations that are outside of the protection of Earth's atmosphere can also be damaged by the radiation of CMEs.
The most powerful storm in recorded history had no effect on the health of humans or other life on Earth. There is no evidence that solar storms have an impact on human health.
"No matter what, flares do not have a significant effect on us here on Earth," said a researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's space weather prediction center. Is there a way that the Earth would be wiped out? I don't know if that's true, but we've never seen a solar event large enough to have any measurable effects on human health.
Scientists suspect that other nearby stars could threaten extinction. When certain stars run out of fuel and die, they explode in a tremendous supernova that blasts powerful radiation into space for millions of light years around. These blasts are more powerful than solar flares, and should a dying star blow up close to Earth, it could cause us to be exposed to a lot of UV radiation.
The death of a star within 65 light-years of Earth is thought to have taken place at the end of the Devonian Period. The mass extinction at the end of this period resulted in the death of 70% of Earth's animals. Evidence of ultraviolet light damage was found in fossils from the time of the extinction.
The authors of the study said that there were no candidates close enough to pose a threat. Our atmosphere makes it easy for us to stay on the friendly side of the star.
It was originally published on Live Science
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