(AFP Report).- A powerful solar storm will manifest this Saturday on the planet, a day following the most energetic events in two decades unleashed spectacular polar auroras visible from Great Britain to Argentina or Chile, threatening outages in satellite communications and networks. electrical.
The first of several ejections of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun began shortly following 4:00 p.m. GMT on Friday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States.
NOAA classified the geomagnetic storm as “extreme,” as it is the most powerful since October 2003, when several plasma explosions from the solar corona caused blackouts in Sweden and damage to energy infrastructure in South Africa.
On Friday night, social networks were filled with photos of auroras captured in northern Europe and in Chile, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand in the southern hemisphere, and the phenomenon is expected to continue in the coming days.
More coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are expected to manifest on the planet this Saturday and Sunday.
“We just woke up the kids to see the Northern Lights in the backyard! It is visible to the naked eye,” Iain Mansfield, a political advisor based in Hertford, in the United Kingdom, told AFP.
“I have the feeling of living a historic night in France,” said Eric Lagadec, astrophysicist at the Côte d’Azur Observatory, on the X social network.
Authorities asked satellite operators, airlines and power grid managers to take precautionary measures once morest possible disturbances caused by changes in the Earth’s magnetic field.
The American Civil Aviation Agency (FAA) stated that “no significant consequences are expected” in terms of air traffic.
An impact on communications and birds
Unlike solar flares, which travel at the speed of light and reach Earth in eight minutes, these ejecta travel at a slower pace of 800 km per second.
Magnetic fields associated with geomagnetic storms induce currents in long conductors, including power cables, which can cause blackouts.
Impacts may also occur on high-frequency radio communication, GPS, on spacecraft and satellites.
This phenomenon can even affect pigeons and other species that have internal biological compasses.
Elon Musk, whose satellite internet operator Starlink has regarding 5,000 satellites low in Earth’s orbit, described the solar storm as the “biggest in a long time.”
“The Starlink satellites are under a lot of pressure, but they are holding up for the moment,” Musk said on the X social network.
“Go out tonight and look.”
An effect that amazed people around the world were the polar lights – known as the northern or southern lights, depending on the hemisphere – in latitudes where they are not usually visible.
Mathew Owens, professor of space physics at the University of Reading, in the United Kingdom, explained to AFP that the effects will be visible mainly in the northern and southern latitudes of the planet and that the exact extent will depend on the power of the storm.
“My advice is to go outside tonight and look, because if you see an aurora, it is something spectacular,” he continued.
In the United States, this phenomenon might even be observed in states such as California and Alabama.
Brent Gordon of NOAA Space Weather Services suggested taking nighttime photos with cell phones, even if the aurora is not visible to the naked eye. “You would be surprised what you can see in the photo” captured with the most modern cell phones, he said.
The authorities recommend that the population maintain the usual measures once morest possible blackouts, such as having flashlights, batteries and radios on hand.
The largest solar storm on record is the “Carrington event,” which occurred in 1859, which destroyed the telegraph network in the United States.
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2024-05-14 05:36:51
