Earth was hit by a geomagnetic storm last week, following a series of flare flares from magnetic storms on the Sun's surface. Experts believe this is a sign of an intense solar storm in 2025.
"The last few years there has been very little (solar) activity, as was the case during the solar minimum. But lately (solar activity) has increased quite rapidly to the next solar cycle maximum, which we predict (happens) in 2025," said Bill Murtagh, Space program coordinator. Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), quoted from Space.com.
"We see an increase in activity which is thought to be related to an increase in the solar cycle. This is a kind of 'wake-up from sleep' phase," he continued.
Last week's solar storm also showed that solar activity affects not only the Sun itself, but life on Earth as well. Upon reaching Earth, solar flares can cause a series of phenomena called space weather that can cause satellite damage to the appearance of beautiful aurorae.
Last week's geomagnetic storm, originated from a series of coronal mass ejections, which are bubbles of solar matter that our Sun sometimes spews out.
"The coronal mass ejection (CME) is basically a cloud of billions of tons of plasma gas with a magnetic field. So the Sun shoots a magnet out into space, and the magnet travels 93 million miles from the Sun to Earth," he said. Murtagh.
But because Earth has its own magnetic field, the mixed magnetic fields in space create storms. "The two magnets came together and created this geomagnetic storm," Murtagh said of the CME reaching Earth.
CMEs can sometimes grow across space, and last week's geomagnetic storm stemmed from a series of flare flares that merged as subsequent CMEs moved faster than their predecessors.
"The first CME basically went through 93 million miles and almost paved the way for other CMEs to come behind it. Sometimes we call it cannibalizing the CME ahead," he said.
How strong the storm is, depends on the magnitude of the CME and how the two magnetic fields align.
