2023-07-02 06:00:40
Although the Sun appears calm and stable from afar, a closer look reveals perpetual change. What first appears as a uniform sea of flame turns into a chaotic tangle of plasma.
This image shows how the Sun’s appearance changes between solar maximum (left) and solar minimum (right).
Crédit: NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory
Every 11 years, the Sun’s magnetic field finds itself confined, before finally reversing abruptly, transforming the North Pole (The terrestrial geographic North Pole, or simply North Pole, is the highest point…) into the South Pole ( The South Pole is the southernmost point on the Earth’s surface, diametrically…) and vice versa. This giant inversion (A giant star is a star of luminosity class II or III. In the…) is preceded by an increase in solar activity (The term activity can refer to a profession.) marked by l emission of plasma blobs ( In physics, plasma describes a state of matter made up of charged particles (ions…), the appearance of dark spots the size of planets and the emission of powerful radiation.
This period, called solar maximum, can be dangerous for the Earth, subject to solar storms capable of disrupting communications, damaging energy infrastructures, harming certain living beings, including astronauts, and causing the fall of satellites.
Researcher Tzu-Wei Fang of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center explains that the impact of a stronger and earlier than expected solar maximum on Earth depends primarily on the direction and timing of solar storms. When a solar storm hits our planet Earth’s atmosphere (The Earth’s atmosphere is the gaseous envelope surrounding the solid Earth. The dry atmosphere is…) and cause communication breakdowns (Communication concerns both humans (intra-psychic, interpersonal communication ,…) and electronic systems of satellites. In addition, more powerful storms can generate terrestrial electrical currents that can damage metal infrastructure, such as some electrical networks and railway lines (The railway is a guided transport system for transporting people and…).
This blurry image of auroras was taken from an airplane window during a large geomagnetic storm on March 24.
Credit: Dakota Snider
An ionized upper atmosphere also becomes denser, which can create additional drag (In fluid mechanics, drag is the force that opposes the motion of a…) for satellites in low orbit (The orbit Low Earth orbit (LEO) is a type of Earth orbit located…). This extra drag can cause satellites to fall. For example, in February 2022, 40 SpaceX Starlink satellites became de-orbited and burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere. of a geomagnetic storm.
According to Tzu-Wei Fang, more accurate solar weather forecasts are needed to help us prepare for the worst.
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