Listen to Story A series of powerful solar events is set to impact Earth, potentially triggering significant geomagnetic storms over the next few days. Three coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are currently en route to our planet, with the first two launched by M-class solar flares on August 7. These initial CMEs are relatively minor, but the third, propelled by an X1.
3-class solar flare on August 8th, is far more potent. A CME is a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields rising above the Sun's corona. These eruptions release billions of tons of plasma into space, potentially impacting Earth's magnetosphere and causing disruptions to satellites, communications, and power grids.
The X1.3-class flare , originating from active sunspot AR3777, produced an extreme ultraviolet flash that was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. This flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing a shortwave radio blackout that affected regions from North America to the Hawaiian islands, disrupting signals below 30 MHz for up to an hour.
Following the flare, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) detected a halo CME heading directly for Earth, traveling at speeds exceeding 1,000 km per second. This CME is expected to arrive by August 11, compounding the effects of the earlier CMEs. The combined impact of these solar events could elevate geomagnetic storm levels to category G3 (Strong), potentially sparking mid-latitude auroras visible in the USA and Europe.
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