In recent days, the Sun, increasingly active as its new solar cycle becomes more violent, has been alive with a flurry of activity, with sunspots spewing magnetic energy and releases of moving particles fast so-called coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
Now, according to scientists, after the detection of 17 solar flares from a single sunspot, two of which are headed directly for Earth, dazzling Northern Lights they could light up the skies as far north as the American continent.
“Ejection of cannibal coronal mass”
The two eruptions directed at the Earth, released by the active regions 12975 and 12976 of the Sun on March, have merged into a “cannibal coronal mass ejection” and are headed our way at 3.027.550 km/h.
According to the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, when crashed into the Earth’s magnetic field on the night of 31 in March, the result will be a powerful G3 geomagnetic storm.
G3 storms are classified as strong geomagnetic storms, which means that the coming solar explosion could bring the aurora as far south as Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon, in the United States, according to reports Live Science.
Harmless arrival on Earth
It is expected that the energy of the storm is absorbed harmlessly 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 radionavigation problems,” according to the SWPC.
For its part, the Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Oceanic Administration and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), based in the United States, warned that surface charging of satellite components could occur, that it could increase drag on low-Earth orbit satellites and that corrections for orientation problems could be necessary.
“Satellite navigation and low-frequency radio frequency problems may occur, HF radio may be intermittent,” NOAA said in a warning.