A solar eruption will reach Earth on July 21st

On July 11th, a solar flare It caught the attention of space observatory personnel from practically the entire planet. This phenomenon, which normally occurs in the Sun’s atmosphere, consists of “a sudden emission of electromagnetic radiation and energetic particles located in a small area of ​​​​the Sun’s atmosphere,” emphasize David Montes and Gonzalo José Carracedo in The conversation. came from a Solar region in which its magnetic field is particularly strong and complexcausing these flares to travel at the speed of light.

However, these phenomena do not always occur spontaneously, but are the result of a much larger process than the one the sun is experiencing right now. Inside, the same magnetic field that caused the eruption seen on July 11 continued to spin, ejecting massive amounts of solar plasma into space. This phenomenon, known as a coronal mass ejection it’s moving slower than the sputum, and that’s what’s been happening for the past week.

It was on July 15 that one of them left the Sun for Earth, and despite its slower speed, NOAA (Center for Space Weather Detection) forecasts point to the next one Thursday, July 21st will reach Earth.

Forecasts indicate that it will reach Earth next Thursday, July 21st

How will this phenomenon affect telecommunications?

The physics of these solar phenomena have not yet been studied in detail, but all signs seem to point to it Their nature is primarily magnetic and they occur approximately every 11 years. Then the Sun goes through its periods of greatest magnetic activity, known as solar maxima, when the frequency of these types of events is particularly high. It is precisely now that the sun is nearing the peak of its current cycle and it is estimated that it will reach its maximum in the course of 2024.

A coronal mass ejection can affect the Earth in a number of ways: while it is often accompanied by polar auroras, its interaction with the Earth’s magnetosphere can cause it to compress and alter its structure, creating new, more complex magnetic fields that add onto the existing magnetic field of the earth. This phenomenon is called geomagnetic storm and its effects could be felt in disruptions to radio and satellite communications and, in the most extreme cases, power outages.

NOAA has estimated this geomagnetic storm will belevel 1the lowest, and could cause fluctuations in the power grid and hardly affect satellite operations on Earth. While it won’t be the most intense episode on record, history books remember 1859 as the year the Carrington Effect: That year, a great geomagnetic storm of the same origin caused the failure of telegraph networks in Europe and North America, setting fire to receptions and causing multiple electrocutions in a world not half as dependent on telecommunications as it is today.

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