Tag: solar flare impact

[ad_1] Like asteroids, solar flares also pose a threat to Earth. Strong solar flares can cause power and radio blackouts for several hours or even days, spark auroras, give people in airplanes a dose of radiation and can even influence elections! Technological instruments are especially at a risk during flares. This is because when cosmic rays strike Earth, they release various particles like energetic neutrons, muons, pions and alpha particles. Although these particles do not affect the human body, they can pass-through integrated circuits and cause damage, often changing the data stored in the memory. With the solar maximum approaching in the next few years, the Sun's activity is expected to rise, and it could result in more solar flares.NASA, with the help of its Solar Dynamics Obser...

[ad_1] The current solar cycle 25 has taken scientists and space weather forecasters by surprise, by producing more sunspots than expected. During its 11-year cycle, the Sun unleashes CMEs, solar flares, solar storms, and other particles that harbor the energy to cause potential damage on Earth. Although scientists now have the technology to predict most of these events, this cycle's activity has already exceeded the maximum threshold that was predicted earlier, and it could still increase with the peak approaching in the next year or two. To monitor the Sun's volatile nature, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) carries a full suite of instruments that help it to observe the solar activity. This observatory has now shed light on a sunspot that recently exploded, sending a strong sol...