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A massive explosion on the sun’s surface this week released billions of tons of plasma that will hit Earth today.
The eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), shot out from the sun’s southwest and sent plasma jets toward our planet using intense solar winds.
Forecast reports suggest there’s a 50 percent chance the particles will disrupt satellites in Earth’s orbit and a 10 percent chance of blackouts.
The stream contains intense radiation that can disrupt technologies on Earth.
The solar winds are also expected to jolt our planet’s magnetosphere, creating a G1 geomagnetic storm that could disrupt orbiting satellites in space.
On April 24, a massive explosion was recorded from the surface of the sun
CMEs can eject billions of tons of corona material from the sun’s surface. The material consists of plasma and magnetic fields.
Such outbursts can cause space weather that can disrupt satellites and power grids on Earth and harm unprotected astronauts.
It was captured by the European Space Agency’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, which analyzes our sun.
And it’s just by fate that the CME particles hit Earth, as the stream was released from a coronal hole that overlooks our planet.
Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that Earth’s magnetic field will be disrupted tonight around 6 p.m. ET and could persist into Friday.
Earth’s magnetic field is “restless” as of Thursday and will continue for the next 24 hours as high-velocity solar winds pour out of the coronal hole, EarthSky reports.
Three coronal holes on the surface of the sun are aimed at our planet, and seven sunspots have also been identified.
Sunspots are dark areas of the sun where it is cooler than other parts of the surface. Solar flares form near these dark parts of the star.
Solar flares and coronal mass ejections emanate from these regions.
When they explode toward Earth, they can result in geomagnetic storms that produce beautiful auroras and threaten power grids and satellites.
SpaceWeather experts predict there’s a 50 percent chance of C flares, a 10 percent chance of M flares, and one percent chance of X flares over the next 24 hours
Known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), this outburst pierced the southwestern quadrant of the sun near a coronal hole, a cooler region on the surface
The sun also released a ‘cannibal’ CME on Thursday on the northeastern side of the sun’s disk that faces away from Earth
The sun also released a “cannibal” CME on Thursday on the northeastern side of the sun’s disk facing away from Earth.
“This particular cannibal CME will not affect our planet. It’s going away from us,’ SpaceWeather. com reports.
The sun is an amazing cosmic ball of gas that still surprises astronomers with its bewildering behavior.
One of these incidents was observed in February when a piece of the sun’s north pole broke off.
A video shows a giant filament of plasma, or electrified gas, shooting out from the sun, breaking up and then circulating in a “massive polar vortex.”
While astronomers are baffled, they speculate that the prominence has something to do with the reversal of the sun’s magnetic field that happens once in the solar cycle.
NASA describes solar filaments as clouds of charged particles floating above the sun, attached to them by magnetic forces.
These appear as elongated, uneven strands that shoot out from the surface of the sun.
Solar physicist Scott McIntosh, the deputy director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, told Space.com, “Once in each solar cycle, it forms at 55 degrees north latitude and begins to march up toward the solar poles.
‘It’s very curious. There’s a big “why” question surrounding it. Why does it only move towards the pole once and then disappear and then, magically, come back three or four years later in exactly the same area?’
While astronomers have previously observed filaments breaking off from the sun, this is the first time one has circulated through the area in a whirlwind.