Giant Coronal Mass Ejection From Sun’s Southern Hemisphere Could Hit Earth’s Magnetic Field, Cause Geomagnetic Storms

On Sunday, a massive solar flare was expected to blow a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field. It might cause geomagnetic storms.

Coronal Mass Ejection Will Cause Geomagnetic Storms On Earth

On Thursday, the sun spat out a massive jet of solar plasma that might impact the Earth on Sunday and damage our magnetic field and atmosphere. A magnetic filament that was erupting in the sun's southern hemisphere caused a cloud of plasma to be launched hurtling toward Earth, resulting in this coronal mass ejection (CME), Newsweek reported.

Model results from solar observation revealed that most CMEs from the filament eruption, which started about 17/1530 UTC near Region 3309, were ahead and south of Earth's orbit. The filament eruption at Region 3309 occurred around 17/1530 UTC, and the findings showed that a glancing blow is conceivable late on May 21 that would result in additional upgrades. The CMEs from this eruption were predicted and found to be primarily ahead and south of Earth's orbit.

Large-scale plasma and magnetic field expulsions from the sun's atmosphere, or corona, are known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). CMEs move considerably more slowly than solar flares, blasts of electromagnetic radiation that travel at the speed of light and arrive at Earth in less than 8 minutes.

According to the Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, CMEs can reach Earth in 15 to 18 hours at their fastest speeds of approximately 1,900 miles per second (3,000 kilometers per second). However, slower CMEs traveling around 155 miles per second (250 kilometers per hour) can take several days to arrive.

Solar Plasma Could Cause G1 Geomagnetic Storms

The CME was expected to cause mild G1-class geomagnetic storms, according to NOAA forecasters. Beautiful auroras can be seen worldwide when CMEs crash with the Earth, as this one might do. They occasionally affect technology.

Modifying the Earth's magnetic field is known as a geomagnetic storm. According to a recent interview with Daniel Brown for Newsweek, an associate professor of astronomy and scientific communication at Nottingham Trent University in the U.K., this refers to the moment when the magnetic fields that typically envelop our planet begin to be disrupted.

The Earth's magnetic field travels through a turbulent environment as it moves away from the sun due to the quantity and speed of the matter being ejected and the related magnetic fields and interactions with other particles already being emitted from the solar. The greater the connection and the more likely a big geomagnetic storm will be, the longer the interaction lasts.

Depending on the characteristics of the CME, geomagnetic storms can range in strength and have various effects on the globe. The NOAA categorizes geomagnetic storms on a G scale of 1 through 5, with G1 storms moderate and G5 storms extreme. The upcoming CME will result in only a G1 storm when it impacts Earth Sunday.

G1 geomagnetic storms are weak and only cause minor fluctuations in power grids and may affect satellite functions, including mobile devices and GPS systems. It could also cause the beautiful display of auroras or Northern lights, per Weather.

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