Solar storm strikes Earth; another scary one coming soon; Internet outage, blackouts? Find out
Sun has been in a pretty active state for the last few months. The star has been erupting frequently and unleashing solar storms towards Earth. Its most recently-caused solar storm has hit the Earth without causing any damage, but it did spark stunning auroras across the northern US and Canada. Dr Tamitha Skov, a space weather expert, had predicted that a 'snake-like filament' was spotted on the sun's surface on Friday and it was moving toward the Earth.
Mike Cook, who works in space weather operations, is quoted by DailyMail.com as saying, “There have been several CME [coronal mass ejection] eruptions over the last few days (solar storms) but there is also a Coronal Hole (the black hole like structures) which is center disk. We should see impacts from that in the next 2-3 days.”
Though the pictures of the beautiful auroras have taken all over the internet, space weather experts predict that this is not over and that a G1 class solar storm is heading towards earth. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) too, a G1-Class storm is expected to hit our planet on Thursday or Friday. According to the US Space Weather Center, the strength of G1 class storm is Minor while G5 class is said to be extreme. These minor storms can cause weak power grid fluctuations, affect satellite operations, and animals and interfere with satellite operations. Sebastian Voltmer, an internationally awarded astrophotographer, told DailyMail.com via email, “Internet outages will be the least of anyone's worries. GPS, radio blackouts and changes of pressure in the Earth's higher atmosphere are problematic effects.”
Solar Storm is the phenomenon wherein disturbance on the Sun can
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