- 3527 - SUN - solar eruptions in 2022. April, 2022, the dazzling northern lights could light up the skies as far south as the northern United States after the detection of 17 solar eruptions blasting from a single sunspot, two of which are headed straight to Earth.
--------------------- 3527 - SUN - solar eruptions in 2022
- The two Earth-directed solar eruptions have merged into a "cannibal coronal mass ejection" and are barreling toward us at 1,881,263 mph. When it crashes into the Earth's magnetic field on the night of March 30, 2022, the result will be a powerful “G3” geomagnetic storm.
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- “G3” storms are classified as “strong geomagnetic storms“, meaning that the oncoming sun blast could bring the aurora as south as Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon. The sunspot, called “AR2975“, has been shooting out flares of electrically charged particles from the sun's plasma soup since March 2, 2022.
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- Sunspots are areas on the sun's surface where powerful magnetic fields, created by the flow of electrical charges, knot into kinks before suddenly snapping. The resulting release of energy launches bursts of radiation called “solar flares“, or explosive jets of solar material called “coronal mass ejections” (CMEs).
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- “Cannibal coronal mass ejections” happen when fast-moving solar eruptions overtake earlier eruptions in the same region of space, sweeping up charged particles to form a giant, combined wavefront that triggers a powerful geomagnetic storm.
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- The "frenzy" of solar flares meant that "at least two full-halo Earth striking CMEs emerged from the chaos. The second CME is expected to overtake and "cannibalize" the first before hitting Earth's magnetic field at around 11 p.m. ET time on March 30.
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- CME's usually take around 15 to 18 hours to reach Earth. When they do, the Earth's magnetic field gets compressed slightly by the waves of highly energetic particles, which ripple down magnetic field lines and agitate molecules in the atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of light to create colorful auroras in the night sky.
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- The energy from the storm is expected to be harmlessly absorbed by our magnetic field, but large solar storms still have the potential to wreak havoc. “G3” storms can cause intermittent satellite navigation and low-frequency radio navigation problems.
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- A recent storm in February, 2022, sent 40 Starlink satellites tumbling back to Earth. An even larger one could have the potential to cripple the internet across the globe.
Scientists think that the largest ever solar storm witnessed during contemporary history was the “1859 Carrington Event“, carried roughly the same energy as 10 billion 1-megaton atomic bombs.
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- After slamming into the Earth, the powerful stream of solar particles fried telegram systems all over the world and caused auroras brighter than the light of the full moon to appear as far south as the Caribbean.
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- If a similar event happened today, it would cause trillions of dollars in damage and widespread blackouts, much like the solar storm which caused the 1989 Quebec blackout.
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- At least 17 of these solar eruptions from a single sunspot on the sun have blasted into space in these recent days. Sunspots are eruptions on the sun that occur when magnetic lines twist and suddenly realign near the visible surface.
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- Modeling suggests that the particles may generate G2 or G3 (moderate) geomagnetic storms, although auroras (northern lights and southern lights) are notoriously hard to predict. The year 2022 is expected to be relatively quiet for the sun overall, as we are still towards the beginning of the 11-year solar cycle of activity that began in December, 2019.
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- Solar Cycle beginnings usually have fewer sunspots and fewer eruptions. Activity should increase as we approach the peak, forecasted to be in mid-2025. Scientists are debating how strong this current solar cycle will be, although forecasts so far indicate that the average number of sunspots may be lower than usual.
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- A strong flare aimed towards Earth, along with a large CME, may induce problems such as damaging power lines or disabling satellites.
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- Here's what's contained in that glowing ball of gas we circle every year of our lives:
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- Deep in the heart of our sun is its core, which is where the fusion reactions that power our star take place. That means there's no adjective quite strong enough to describe just how hot and dense the core is, where temperatures reach over 27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit and material is packed together more than 10 times more densely than in lead.
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- These 17 solar eruptions from a single sunspot on the sun that have blasted into space in recent days, including some charged particles that may create a colorful sky show on Earth. Sunspots are eruptions on the sun that occur when magnetic lines twist and suddenly realign near the visible surface.
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- After a photon leaves the sun's core, it moves outward to begin its long journey. Any individual photon takes more than 100,000 years to travel from the core to the outer border of the “radiative zone“, because it bounces up and down rather than moving in a straight line.
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- The “convection zone” starts where the sun's density weakens, continuing the heat transfer begun deeper in the sun. Photons pick up speed in this region and large bubbles of hot plasma quickly rise through the convection zone.
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- “The photosphere” is the outermost visible layer of the sun, what we think of as the star's surface. This is where sunspots form and where the light that eventually reaches us on Earth comes from. Here, temperatures are relatively temperate, at about 10,000 degrees F.
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- The “chromosphere” is usually incredibly difficult to see, because it just leaves a reddish glow around the sun. But scientists think this unprepossessing layer may be crucial to conducting heat out of the sun and into the star's incredibly hot upper atmosphere.
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- The “corona” is the barely there outermost layer of the sun, which we can see only during a total solar eclipse, when the moon blocks out the brightness of the star's photosphere. That's made the corona remarkably difficult to study. But, beginning later this year, NASA will fly a spacecraft directly though the corona to try to solve its lingering mysteries.
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- The “solar wind” isn't technically a layer of the sun, but the constant stream of highly charged particles flowing off the sun is one of the key ways our star affects planets. Here on Earth, our atmosphere mostly blankets us from the solar wind, but it's a key hazard for satellites and space travel.
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- The solar wind also defines our solar system, which stretches as far as the wind does. That is considered the edge of our solar system.
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March 31, 2022 SUN - solar eruptions in 2022. 3527
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