A powerful solar storm is approaching Earth this weekend: these are its possible consequences

“A coronal mass ejection (CME) was observed on the SOHO/LASCO coronagraph images rising from the Sun on February 15,” reported NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC).

These solar phenomena emit large amounts of electromagnetic radiation into spaceso it can wreak havoc on the near-Earth environment with potentially catastrophic consequences depending on the storm’s classification.

Specialists have compared this explosion like a massive solar burpsomething that, although it happens often, this time blew in the direction of the Earth.

According to the SWPC, a series of G1-Minor Geomagnetic Storms Alerts (these can create small fluctuations in the electrical network and affect some animals) and G2-Moderate (It can damage transformers, power systems can experience voltage alarms, and it can produce visible auroras much further south.)

They are expected to begin to take effect on Earth this Friday and Saturday.

What can cause a solar storm on Earth

According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, by the weekend a G1 geomagnetic storm might affect satellite operations and might even cause weak fluctuations in the electrical grid.

Los migratory animals might be affected and the northern lights might be seen further south than usual, such as in northern Michigan and Maine.

By Saturday morning, the storm would reach a G2 level that might affect high-latitude power systems by activate voltage alarmsand long duration storms might damage the transformers.

In addition, they might need corrective actions for spacecraft orbiting Earth.

Some of the consequences of this explosion is that it creates static in communications, or it can cause a positioning error in satellite or GPS tracking devices, or interference within an electrical network.

The Northern Lights might possibly be seen even further south in places like New York state and Idaho.

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One of the first images of our star taken by the Solar Orbiter probe shows the star in all its splendor, part of the first series of images from a project involving NASA and the European Space Agency. They are the closest photographs that have been made of the Sun in history.

Credit: Solar Orbiter/ESA/NASA

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Solar Orbiter completed its first pass close to our star in mid-June, and on July 16, these photos were revealed. It is monitored from the European Space Operations Center in Germany and carries instruments provided by ESA member states and NASA.

Credit: AP

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This illustration released by NASA depicts what the probe would look like in front of the Sun. When it took these spectacular high-resolution photos in mid-June, Solar Orbiter was 48 million miles (regarding 77 million kilometers) from the star, regarding halfway from Earth.

Credit: AP

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“These unprecedented images of the Sun are the closest we’ve ever gotten,” said Holly Gilbert, NASA project scientist for the mission. Pictured is the moment of launch of Solar Orbiter on February 9, 2020, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Credit: Jared Frankle/AP

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Solar Orbiter carries six imaging instruments, each studying a different aspect of the Sun. Typically, the first photos a spacecraft sends back confirm that the instruments are working.

Credit: Solar Orbiter/ESA/NASA

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One of the Solar Orbiter’s instruments, the EUI (extreme ultraviolet light collector), recorded characteristics of the sun never observed in such detail, among others that the star presents many small eruptions that scientists dubbed “campfires”. “.

Credit: Solar Orbiter/ESA/NASA

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NASA explains that it is not yet clear what these “fires” are, but it is possible that they are mini-explosions known as nanoflares: small sparks that heat the outer atmosphere of the Sun to its temperature 300 times hotter than the surface.

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The solar corona seen from the probe. Scientists need a more precise measurement of the temperature of so-called “campfires,” something that will be done with another of Solar Orbiter’s tools.

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A view of the Sun with another of the specialized instruments aboard the probe. Solar Orbiter will tilt its orbit as the mission continues to provide unprecedented images of the solar poles. In two years it will be even closer to the star.

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The rotation of the Sun as measured by one of the Solar Orbiter instruments. The pandemic forced the scientists on the project to work from home for months. A few engineers may eventually work at the mission control center in Darmstadt, Germany.