aurora today

Solar storm 2024: As we approach the solar maximum, the Sun's activity is expected to increase further. The Sun has been showing its might in the last few weeks, with dangerous X-class solar flares spewing out on multiple occasions. All these solar phenomena hold the potential to cause damage on Earth to the electrical infrastructure. Technological instruments are especially at risk during these events, resulting in power blackouts and even disruption of radio communication. Just days after a G1-class geomagnetic storm…

NASA has a full suite of instruments to measure solar activity that affects Earth. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory or SOHO is one of the premier instruments that is used by NASA and ESA. Launched in 1995, SOHO is equipped with 12 scientific instruments, such as an Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT), Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI), LASCO (Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph), and others. SOHO captures images of the sun's corona, measures the velocity and magnetic fields of the sun's surface, and…

While Earth's magnetosphere deflects most solar activity carried by solar events, some charged particles seep through. These energetic particles cause magnetic disturbances, classified as Geomagnetic storms. These supercharged storms can wreak havoc on all forms of wireless communication, including GPS, mobile networks, and satellite communication. Power grids are also susceptible to fluctuations and could potentially sustain irreversible damage.In light of the danger that is posed by geomagnetic storms, forecasters at…

Geomagnetic storms can wreak havoc on Earth as they have the power to destroy all the communications and electrical infrastructure on Earth and even the satellites up in the sky. And Earth has been, and is being, continuously bombarded by Geomagnetic storms, and not a single week has gone by without one incident of solar particles hitting our atmosphere recently. In fact, the year 2023 has been an eventful year for astronomers and skywatchers and you too should know what these storms are all about.So, do you know what…

Just yesterday, an unstable sunspot named AR3335 exploded, producing a solar flare that triggered blackouts over the Atlantic Ocean. The resulting solar flare was M2.5 in intensity and caused a shortwave radio blackout. Solar activity has been on the rise for the past few months, and it is expected to increase further until solar maximum, the period of greatest solar activity during the Sun's 11-year cycle. Solar flare riskAccording to a report by spaceweather.com, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) forecasters have…

Solar activity has been at a high in the last few months and that is probably due to the approaching Solar Maximum. Sun entered solar cycle 25 in 2019 and it is expected that it will hit its peak in July 2025, thus resulting in increased solar activity even further during the peak. Therefore, we can expect solar phenomena such as sunspot eruptions, solar storms, solar flares, geomagnetic storms, and more, to bombard Earth.Recently, forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have issued a…

2023 has been an eventful year for astronomers and skywatchers. Not only have we witnessed several big asteroids pass by Earth at close distances, but other sky phenomena such as auroras have mesmerized us too. The planet has been continuously bombarded by solar storms since the turn of the year and not a single week has gone by without at least one incident being reported of solar particles hitting the atmosphere. Now, a geomagnetic storm surprised astronomers, and it sparked stunning red auroras which lit up the sky as…

We have seen rampant solar activity in the past few months. Natural phenomena such as sunspot eruptions, solar storms, solar flares, geomagnetic storms, and more, have been bombarding Earth. But why? According to NASA, this is because the Sun entered solar cycle 25 in 2019 and it is expected that it will hit its peak in July 2025, thus resulting in increased solar activity even further during the peak. Although this solar activity might seem harmless due to the distance of the Sun from our planet, it can cause major…

The explosions on the Sun are not showing any signs of slowing down as we enter the third day of solar flare eruptions. Yesterday, multiple coronal mass ejection (CME) clouds were detected by NASA which were moving in different directions, although none were reported to be coming towards the Earth. But that did not last long. A few hours earlier today, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) detected a large CME cloud sweeping past its DSCOVR satellite. This CME was not detected earlier and comes as a…

Yesterday, it was reported that a particularly notorious sunspot complex turned unstable and was frequently exploding, resulting in solar flare eruptions. The effect caused a rolling series of radio blackouts on Earth, which was particularly felt over the African continent. We are on day 2, and the explosions do not appear to be slowing down. In fact, one particular solar flare eruption has produced a large amount of coronal mass ejection (CME) cloud, which might hit the Earth. Astronomers have not been able to figure…