Impact of massive solar flare is expected to hit Earth tomorrow
Could Friday the 13th wreak havoc with mobile phone signals? Impact of massive solar flare is expected to hit Earth tomorrow – and it could disrupt sa
Three large solar flares over the last two days have released a huge cloud of particles from the sun which could knock out satellites and communication systems on Earth. A ‘coronal mass ejection’ (CME), a huge cloud of irradiated particles and a magnetic shockwave, could strike the planet on Friday, damaging satellites and knocking out communications. The three solar flares already caused brief disruptions to high frequency communications, such as radio broadcasts and aircraft communications, when they struck yesterday and twice on Tuesday.
Yesterday’s double X-flare may have produced a geoeffective CME after all. At first it appeared that Earth was outside the line of fire, but a closer look at the CME reveals an Earth-directed component.
Solar activity remains high. Active sunspot AR2087 unleashed another X-flare on June 11th (X1.0), following two X-flares (X2.1 and X1.5) on June 10th.
Solar Flares Disrupt Communications on Earth, Could Send Shockwave on Friday the 13th
The sun has had three major solar flares on its surface in the past two days that have affected communications on Earth and could send a shockwave through Earth this Friday… The “solar events” caused brief blackouts in high frequency communications…twice on Tuesday morning and once this morning… between the hours of 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. EDT.
Yesterday’s double X-flare may have produced a geoeffective CME after all. At first it appeared that Earth was outside the line of fire, but a closer look at the CME reveals an Earth-directed component. Meanwhile, more X-flares are in the offing. At least two sunspots (AR2080 and AR2087) have unstable ‘delta-class’ magnetic fields that could erupt at any moment.
Years ago, in 2008 and 2009 an eerie quiet descended on the sun. Sunspot counts dropped to historically-low levels and solar flares ceased altogether. As the longest and deepest solar minimum in a century unfolded, bored solar physicists wondered when “Solar Max” would ever return. They can stop wondering. “It’s back,” says Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center. “Solar Max has arrived.”