It appears that yesterday's solar storm was not the end of troubles for the planet, as another coronal mass ejection (CME) cloud is expected to strike the Earth later today, July 27. The CME was part of the released mass that escaped the Sun during the solar flare eruption on July 23. Researchers have been tracking the CME, but yesterday, another CME made an impact unexpectedly. It is believed to be another smaller CME that came from a blind spot. The real threat is still yet to hit, as the incoming CME is much larger and can spark an intense solar storm.
A report by SpaceWeather.com shed light on the confusion. It stated, “Unexpectedly, a CME hit Earth's magnetic field on July 25th (2235 UT), sparking a G1-class geomagnetic storm. It is unclear if this is the early arrival of a CME originally expected on July 27th or a completely different CME which was previously overlooked. Because of the uncertainty, a minor geomagnetic storm watch is still in effect for July 27th”.
This will be the fourth solar storm event in the last two weeks, the most frequent since April 2023. And with as many as 10 sunspot regions on the Earth-facing side of the Sun, the frequency does not appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
But this is nothing in comparison to what we might see in 2025 when researchers have predicted that the Sun will have as many as 115 (or more) active sunspot regions at the same time.
There is a big possibility that such high solar activity can result in powerful solar storms, comparable to the Carrington event. Such solar storms can disrupt GPS, hamper mobile networks and the internet, and even cause a massive power outage by corrupting the power grids. Even the electronic devices on Earth are not safe from malfunctioning.
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