A burst of high-speed material smashed into the Earth's magnetic field after a shock wave from the sun. According to SpaceWeather.com, there is a chance of a storm this afternoon.
Scientists think it could have come from a burst of solar flares caused by a mass ejection from the sunspot AR3 165.
Sunspot are areas on the sun's surface where powerful magnetic fields are created by the flow of electrical charges There are bursts of radiation called solar flares when energy is released from the sun. Once launched, CMEs travel at speeds in the millions of miles per hour, sweeping up charged particles from the solar wind to form a giant wavefront that can cause geomagnetic storms.
The magnetic field on Earth is being attacked by a solar storm.
When solar debris gets absorbed by the Earth's magnetic field it causes a storm. The solar particles zip through the atmosphere near the poles where Earth's protective magnetic field is weakest and cause them to release energy in the form of light to form colorful Auroras.
The storms can cause cracks in the magnetosphere which stay open for hours at a time, allowing solar material to stream through and disrupt satellites, radio communications, and power systems.
The storm that is predicted to hit today will be weak. It may affect power grids and satellite functions. As far south as Michigan and Maine, it may cause an Aurora to appear.
Extreme storms can have more serious effects. They can warp our planet's magnetic field so much that they can cause satellites to fall to Earth and even cripple the internet.
As the sun ramps up into the most active phase of its 11-year solar cycle, the upcoming storm is just the latest in a string of solar attacks fired at Earth.
The sun has been more active than anticipated, with nearly double the sunspot appearances predicted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The sun's activity is expected to increase over the next few years, reaching a maximum in the year 2025.
The biggest solar storm in recent history was in 1859 and it released the same amount of energy as 10 billion atomic bombs. After slamming into Earth, the powerful stream of solar particles fried telegraph systems around the world, causing the Auroras to appear as far south as the Caribbean.
Scientists warn that if a similar event were to happen today it would cause trillions of dollars' worth of damage. A previous solar storm in 1989 released a billion ton of gas that caused a power failure in Quebec.
Our star is capable of doing a lot of things. The cause of a series of huge spikes in radiation levels in ancient tree rings is being investigated by scientists. There is a theory that the spikes could have come from solar storms 80 times more powerful than the Carrington event.
The original article was published on Live Science.
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