Shocking solar flares, dangerous Geomagnetic storms to lovely auroras, know how they are sparked
Auroras are one of the natural scenic wonders seen on the Earth's extremities- the poles. These are extremely beautiful, multi-coloured, lights in the sky. But what goes into creating these dazzling auroras? What makes them appear at the poles of the Earth? Let us start from the beginning. Those spectacular views of auroras that you enjoy are actually the aftermath of the burst of huge energy waves from the Sun that are ejected in the direction of Earth. These streams of energy travel around 93 million miles from the Sun, which actually result in two phenomena - CMEs and solar flares. They ultimately spark geomagnetic storms on Earth. What are these? How do they impact Earth? Know everything here.
The explosion of a stream of energy from the surface of the sun can be categorised into two events. First is the CMEs - the coronal mass ejection, which can be understood as the massive solar particle eruptions due to intense flares from the sun. CMEs fire an abundance of plasma, gases and magnetic fields out into space, often from the Sunspots which are lumps in the Sun's magnetic field. This usually takes 1-5 days to reach Earth.
Second, there is a solar flare, a powerful and very serious eruption of electromagnetic radiation generated on the surface of the Sun. These sudden outbursts of electromagnetic energy travel at shocking speeds and can reach the earth within hours. And if it is the most intense solar flare, then it can even reach our planet within 8 minutes!
Though Earth’s magnetic field and upper atmosphere work as a shield and protect Earth from these furious solar flares, they can still have a significant effect! How? They can spark geomagnetic storms.
A Geomagnetic storm is the result of solar flares. It is basically
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