Solar storms have some flair
Have you noticed the stunning sunsets lately? If you haven’t been able to see them due to working, home life, etc. I hope that soon you may take a couple of moments to appreciate the view. It’s one you might be thankful you didn’t miss.
During my viewings of many sunsets this summer, my mind wantders (like that’s news to you all by now. Ha!) on what is happening in our solar system and in our own atmosphere. There must be a reason we are witnessing these spectacular views. So, I go and do a little questing around on the interwebs. I go to the normal spots for SPACE NEWS (I hope you heard a really cool voice in your head like I did), https:// www.nasa.gov/ and https://www.space.com/ and the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA) website https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ and peruse around to find anything of excitable interest to me.
A couple of days ago I was doing just that, and I found that there was to be a G-1 Geomagnetic (Solar) storm coming our way and would hit Earth on August 3.
Solar storms! What are they? Is a solar flare a solar storm? How does this affect us?
In my findings, solar flares are intense bursts of radiation coming from “sun spots” on the sun. Normally, when these radiation packed flares disrupt they loop back around into the sun. On occasion the radiation is shot out into space which causes a Geomagnetic Storm, or Solar storm, here on Earth. Luckily this time, according to scientists at the NOAA, this one is weak but will still affect us a bit. Very intense solar storms in where debris erupt from the sun, or coronal mass ejections (CMEs), can take possibly 15 - 18 hours to reach Earth according to SWPC and space.com.
Today for sure, you might have seen disruption in communication, such as your GPS, cell phone, or possibly the internet (extreme storms could cripple the internet. Scary, since we rely so much on the internet now). Those items are not the only ones to see disruptions; satellites and radio waves are affected even more due to the slight compression of the Earth’s magnetic field. On the bright side, as well as in a literal sense, we might see the beautifully colorful auroras in the sky similar to the Northern Lights.
“How?” you ask. Well, while the Earth’s magnetic field is being slightly compressed, the particles travel down the magnetic-field lines near the poles, which agitate the molecules and that causes the vibrations to turn into energy and light which we can see with our naked eye. Hopefully, we might get to see for ourselves the outcome of this solar storm, but not the communications part. At least, I hope not. But if it does it will just remind me to be patient and maybe to take some breaths.
Some things are really just out of our control, the universe will do what it does and we can only observe at the moment. Speaking of observing, if all of this space talk intrigues your mind as well, there are a couple of dates you should keep in mind for looking up into the night’s sky. Next weekend, starting next Friday - Aug. 12 - the last supermoon of the 2022 year will shine brightly; Aug. 13 Perseids meteor shower that could produce 60+/hr.; Aug. 14 - The planet Saturn will peak as the closest it will be for year 2022; and Aug. 19 - Moon and Mars will appear to be very close to each other. I hope you have the chance to even glimpse at the outer world. It’s awe-inspiring.
“And in that moment, I was hit with the realization that this delicate layer of atmosphere is all that protects every living thing on Earth from perishing in the harshness of space.” ~ Ron Garan
SEEKING
W
ONDER
SAMANTHA Y OCIUS PHOTO-TECH
