Two huge explosions on the sun have sent clouds of charged particles to earth
LAST
UPDATED 2:40 PM, AUGUST 3, 2010
The earth will be hit by a 'solar tsunami' this week after two huge explosions on the surface of the sun. The fireworks took place at the weekend and were witnessed by astronomers across the world.
First a flare erupted above a sunspot the size of our planet and soon afterwards a huge explosion of gas, known as a coronal mass ejection, took place in the sun's northern hemisphere. Both events were directed at the earth and the effects of them will be seen in our skies this week.
The two eruptions have sent clouds of electrically charged particles racing towards earth. When the clouds hit, sometime this week, they are expected to spark spectacular displays in the skies around the north and south poles and could even knock out satellites - although this is unlikely.
The coronal mass ejection was the larger of the explosions but is thought to have been triggered by the solar flare.
Dr Lucie Green, of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Surrey, who watched events on the sun unfold through Japan's orbiting Hinode telescope, told the
Daily Telegraph: "These eruptions occur when immense magnetic structures in the solar atmosphere lose their stability and can no longer be held down by the sun's huge gravitational pull. Just like a coiled spring suddenly being released, they erupt into space."
She added: "It looks like the first eruption was so large that it changed the magnetic fields throughout half the sun's visible atmosphere and provided the right conditions for the second eruption. Both eruptions could be Earth-directed but may be travelling at different speeds.
"This means we have a very good chance of seeing major and prolonged effects, such as the northern lights at low latitudes."
The explosions could be a taste of things to come as astronomers say the sun is awakening from a period of inactivity. Really large events on the surface of the sun could cause magnetic 'space storms' that are strong enough to knock out power and communications systems on earth.
And although the explosions at the weekend are not that dangerous they could still have enough power to take out a satellite - a gust of solar particles is thought to have been responsible for wrecking Intelsat's Galaxy 15 satellite in April.
Source: http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/66715,news-comment,news-politics,earth-braced-for-solar-tsunami-after-eruptions-on-the-sun-space-satellites-northern-lights
Scientists say the earth could be hit Tuesday by a solar tsunami after two recent massive eruptions on the sun. Solar tsunamis were discovered in 1997 by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). If forecasters are correct, the solar cycle will peak during the years around 2013, which while it probably won't be the biggest peak on record, human society has never been more vulnerable, says scientists. The basics of daily life - from communications to weather forecasting to financial services - depend on satellites and high-tech electronics. A 2008 report by the National Academy of Sciences warned that a century-class solar storm could cause billions in economic damage.
NASA astronomers reported last week seeing a giant sunspot the size of earth, which in turn was linked to a larger eruption on the Sun's surface. That follows on news in March that after the most profound lull in solar activity for nearly a century, the Sun is finally coming back to life.
Various media reports claim that a large solar eruption could destroy satellites and wreck power and communications grids. Indeed, in mid-July NASA scientists warned that solar storms could cause international havoc by possibly causing widespread power blackouts and affect communication signals.
"The problem is solar storms - figuring out how to predict them and stay safe from their effects," said ILWS Chairperson Lika Guhathakurta of NASA headquarters. "We need to make progress on this before the next solar maximum arrives around 2013."
The Sun sweeps through a cycle of activity that lasts approximately 11 years, notes the ESA webiste, "but until December last year, the Sun had seemed reluctant to start up again. In mid-January, an even larger sunspot group emerged and, most recently, several big, active areas have been crossing the face of the Sun. Yet it is premature to believe that the Sun is ramping up for another energetic cycle of activity."
Predicting solar activity is a complicated problem, akin in some ways to terrestrial weather forecasting but multiplied in difficulty by the thorny physics of solar plasma and magnetism. Predicting the sun is only half the problem, though; the other half is Earth. How our planet's magnetic field and atmosphere respond to any given solar storm is a magnetohydrodynamical riddle that top scientists struggle to understand even with the aid of Earth's most powerful supercomputers. For these reasons, it is often said that space weather forecasting lags 50 years behind its terrestrial counterpart.
Source: http://www.eurasiareview.com/201008036354/solar-tsunami-could-hit-tuesday-may-wreak-havoc-with-satellites.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+eurasiareview%2FVsnE+(Eurasia+Review)
