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In ice cores from both ends of the planet, scientists have discovered evidence of an extreme solar storm that struck Earth around 9,200 years ago, and strangely, it seemed to have occurred during a period when the Sun should have been rather quiet. The Sun regularly throws off solar flares and bursts of plasma called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and if they collide with Earth they can affect our planet’s magnetosphere. Most of the time the only result is stronger aurorae, but powerful CMEs can damage satellites, disrupt communications, and even shut down electrical transmission lines. Radioactive isotopes like beryllium-10...

The Sun has fired several rounds of solar flares since last week, all of which have the potential to cause power grid fluctuations and irregularities in satellite orientation on Earth, according to media reports. Since November 1, the Sun has produced three of the outbursts known to scientists as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), according to Space.com. A CME is a massive eruption of solar particles caused by intense flares from the Sun aimed directly at Earth. CMEs are globs of gas and magnetic fields that are ejected into space by sunspots, which are knots in the Sun’s magnetic field. Two...

A G3 (Strong) Geomagnetic Storm Watch is in effect for 30 – 31 October, 2021, following a significant solar flare and Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from the sun that occurred around 11:35 a.m. EDT on Oct. 28. Analysis indicated the CME departed the Sun at a speed of 973 km/s and is forecast to arrive at Earth on 30 October, with effects likely continuing into 31 October. When the CME approaches Earth, NOAA’s DSCOVR satellite will be among the first spacecraft to detect the real time solar wind changes and SWPC forecasters will issue any appropriate warnings. Impacts to...

MAJOR X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: Earth orbiting satellites have just detected an X1-class solar flare from Earth-facing sunspot AR2887. The blast at 1535 UT on Oct. 28th created a massive tsunami of plasma in the sun's atmosphere: The blast also hurled a CME into space. Coronagraph images are not yet available, but evidence for a CME is already pursuasive. The USAF reports strong Type II and Type IV radio emissions generated by a CME plowing through the sun's atmosphere. In addition, energetic particles accelerated at the leading edge of a CME have already reached Earth. When will the CME itself arrive?...

A powerful solar storm is due to hit Earth today and could cause havoc for power grids, weather agencies have warned. The UK's Met Office and the US's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have forecasted a coronal mass ejection (CME) – a massive expulsion of plasma from the Sun's corona (its outermost layer) at around 12pm EST (5pm BST) today. Possible effects of the solar storm, caused by the CME, are power grid fluctuations and orientation irregularities for spacecraft in the form of 'increased drag' on low-Earth orbiters. The aurora – a natural light display in Earth's sky, also...

A massive solar flare is due to hit Earth today, authorities are warning - potentially disrupting power grids and bringing the Northern Lights as far south as New York. The flare - officially known as a coronal mass ejection (CME) - was observed on Saturday on the side of the sun directly facing our planet and comes as we enter a period of increased solar activity. An alert was published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which warned the geomagnetic storm could cause power grid fluctuations with voltage alarms at higher latitudes, where the Earth is more...

The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) , a unit of the U.S. Department of Commerce under NOAA,which sits alongside its terrestrial National Weather Service, has issued a Geomagnetic Storm Watch for all of Earth for Sunday, September 26 for the possibility of G1 or G2 storm conditions. On Thursday, a sunspot, known as AR2871, experienced two explosive eruptions, each producing a significant M-class solar flare. Solar flares are classified according to their strength, on a B-C-M-X scale. B flares are the smallest while X are the largest. Similar to the Richter scale used to help quantify earthquakes, each letter represents...

The “black swan” event of a solar superstorm directed at earth could prompt an “internet apocalypse” across the entire globe that could last for several months, new research (pdf) has warned. University of California Irvine assistant professor Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi presented the new research, titled “Solar Superstorms: Planning for an Internet Apocalypse,” last month during the Association for Computing Machinery’s annual conference for their Special Interest Group on Data Communication (SIGCOMM). “One of the greatest dangers facing the internet with the potential for global impact is a powerful solar superstorm,” Jyothi wrote in the new research paper. “Although humans are...

Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible on May 18-19 when a pair of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. The two CMEs left the sun on consecutive days: One from sunspot AR2822 on May 13th, the next from sunspot AR2823 on May 14th. Individually, the CMEs appear to be weak and insubstantial; however, they could add up to a geomagnetic storm when they arrive in quick succession this Tuesday.

EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD JUST STRUGGLED WITH A WEAK CME: SIGN OF THE TIMES MAY 14, 2021 CAP ALLON On May 12, a weak Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) released from the Sun hit Earth. The event was supposed to pass by uneventfully — it would perhaps spark a few auroras, but nothing more. So how did a strong G3 geomagnetic storm ensue?Nobody was expecting a level 3 event from this CME.Nobody saw the KP Index hitting 7.

The key to this proposed solar-weather connection lies in “terminator” events, which spell the end of a solar cycle. Over the course of 22 years, bands of magnetism wrapping around the sun slowly migrate toward the equator, interacting with one another to produce sunspots. Those sunspots, or cool, dark discolorations on the sun’s surface, pulsate with magnetic energy, occasionally hurling it into space in solar storms that can spark displays of the northern lights. There are two bands of magnetism per hemisphere on the sun. At solar minimum, both sets of bands are of equal and opposite strength, so the...

NASA satellites have observed a large sunspot forming on the surface of the Sun. The sunspot is twice as wide as Earth and it is facing away from us, for now. However, as Earth moves around the host star, the sunspot could fire a solar flare right at us. Astronomy site Space Weather said: “A new sunspot is emerging over the sun’s northeastern limb, and it’s a big one. “The sunspot’s primary core is twice as wide as Earth, and it is accompanied by two Moon-sized companion spots – dimensions which make it an easy target for amateur solar telescopes....

Planet Earth is under a Geomagnetic Storm Watch on Sunday and, luckily, that isn’t as scary as it sounds. In fact, some people in these situations pack up and hop on a plane – not to flee to safety, but to view the beautiful result: auroras, or the Northern Lights. Scientists recorded a partial halo CME and determined based on it’s size and intensity, that Earth will experience geomagnetic storm conditions early to mid-day Sunday. They expect G2, or moderate storm levels, and it’s predicted to cause hours of brilliant aurora. G2 storm conditions can trigger voltage alarms in power...

Scientists found that the level of carbon-14, an isotope of carbon, was much higher in rings from that year than usual. Some years later, looking at air samples from ice cores, scientists saw that there were elevated levels of beryllium-10 and chlorine-36 as well. The common factor in all these elements is that they are created when extremely high-energy subatomic particles hit Earth's air and ground. .... The only way to get particles at energies like this is from space, where powerful magnetic fields in exploding stars...can accelerate the particles to such high speeds. But the 774 event was so...

A CME launched by yesterday's M4.4-class solar flare might sideswipe Earth's magnetic field on Dec. 1-2, according to NOAA analysts. Yesterday (Nov. 29th at 1311UT), Earth-orbiting satellites detected the biggest solar flare in more than 3 years. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded this extreme-ultraviolet movie of the M4.4 category blast: X-rays and UV radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, producing a shortwave radio blackout over the South Atlantic: map. Ham radio operators and mariners may have noticed strange propagation effects at frequencies below 20 MHz, with some transmissions below 10 MHz completely extinquished. Remarkably, this flare...

NASA, ESA, J. Hester, A. Loll (ASU) ===================================================================== Supernovas may have affected the Earth’s climate in the last 40,000 years. Tree-ring data suggests supernovas caused spikes in radiocarbon. Could the next nearby supernova cause a collapse of civilization? ====================================================================== Dendrochronology is a fancy word for tree-ring dating, where the age of a tree can be determined by the number of growth rings across its trunk. But there’s a lot more to learn from looking at a tree’s rings than simply its age. Like fingerprints, tree rings give scientists clues to what the world was like when a tree was alive....

The geomagnetic storm that resulted in the disturbances recorded during the night could have affected the compasses of nearby ships, she emphasizes. “If Titanic’s compass error were only 0.5°, she would have been off her course for around 9 m over 1 km of the run. This apparently insignificant error could have made the difference between colliding with the iceberg and avoiding it..." The other impact of the geomagnetic storm upon the Titanic rescue operation was wireless communication. According to the report, the Titanic used the ship frequency of 500kHz to send distress messages, a wavelength of 600 meter but...

On 28 August 1859, a series of sunspots began to form on the surface of our stellar parent[parent?]. The sunspots quickly tangled the Sun’s magnetic field lines in their area and produced bright, observed solar flares and one — likely two — Coronal Mass Ejections, one major. The massive solar storm impacted [Earth]on 1-2 September 1859, causing widespread disruption to electrical and Telegraph services and spawning auroras visible in the tropics. ... It also resulted in the earliest observations of solar flares — by Richard Carrington...and Richard Hodgson... Coming just a few months before the solar maximum of 1860, numerous...

Amateur astronomer and Florida resident Howard Eskildsen snapped an image of the "light bridge"—which has a length that's roughly equal to the diameter of Mars—in a recently formed sunspot dubbed AR2770, spaceweather.com reported. These phenomena are caused by strong magnetic field concentrations, which inhibit convection—the transfer of heat from one place to another within gases and liquids. This process heats the solar surface. Hot "bubbles" of plasma—charged particles that are one of the four fundamental states of matter—are transported from deeper, hotter layers to the surface, whereas cooler plasma is transported back to the interior... According to Felipe, light bridges...

A massive sunspot on the Sun is turning towards our planet and this could result in strong solar flares. The sunspot AR2770 was detected earlier this week and is expected to grow in size in the upcoming days. A report by SpaceWeather.com - a space weather forecasting website - said that multiple minor flares have been emitted by the sunspot already as it faced towards the earth. These flares have caused "minor waves of ionization to ripple through Earth's upper atmosphere" but nothing major yet. A clear picture of the AR2770 has also surfaced that gives a better idea into...