NASA scientists thought that flurry images that look like snow are actually fast moving energetic particles. This barrage of particles is what NASA calls solar radiation storm that hit an instrument on Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) of NASA last Oct. 29, 2015.
"Events on the sun can accelerate high-energy particles to very high speeds," said NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center space physicist Yari Collado-Vega in a news release. "These solar-accelerated particles can get up to 80 percent of the speed of light."
Although the event is common, scientists believe that this event comes from an otherwise unfamiliar source, a low-level solar flare and two slow coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Most energetic particles detected by NASA's satellites are sped up by CMEs. When CMEs rush through space, all particles barging their way are swept away, thereby accelerating these particles at an incredible speed.
This means that strong particles are usually expected at large and high speeds. However, in this event, particles move at a rather slow pace, particularly because of the slow CMEs and solar flare from the sun.
The event took place on the right area of the disk of the sun, a portion that has a direct magnetic connection to the Earth, "due to the fact that the sun's magnetic field lines curve as they extend away from the sun in conjunction with the sun's rotation," as posted in NASA's website.
This "barrage of fast-moving particles aimed directly at Earth," however, cannot slip past both Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere and pose harm to humans. "However it does makes for a fascinating fireworks show seen by our sun-watching SOHO," NASA stated.
