Solar storm: NASA captures the moment a sunspot 'explodes'
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A coronal hole in the Sun’s atmosphere is spewing charged particles and “gaseous materials” towards Earth. These so-called solar winds are headed our way at speeds of hundreds of kilometres per second. Space weather forecasters expect the charged winds to reach us by Saturday, March 13.
The announcement comes amid the planet already exiting a previous stream of material.
According to the website Space Weather, the previous stream was responsible for beautiful auroras witnessed across parts of the United States.
As of Wednesday morning, solar winds were clocked at speeds of more than 394km per second – 881,353mph.
Space Weather said: “Another stream is on the way. Flowing from a southern hole in the Sun’s atmosphere, the gaseous material is expected to reach Earth on March 13.”
Solar winds are a continuous outflow of material from the Sun that mainly consist of protons and electrons.
The charged particles flow in a state known as plasma, which is imbued with the Sun’s magnetic field.
According to the US Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), coronal holes produce solar winds of speeds between 500 and 800km per second.
However, different regions of the Sun can produce solar winds of various speeds and intensities.
The SWPC said: “In the equatorial plane, where the Earth and the other planets orbit, the most common state of the solar wind is the slow speed wind, with speeds of about 400km per second.”
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When the solar winds arrive at Earth, they are mostly kept at bay by our magnetic field.
Some of the solar material can leak through and when that happens, the particles can trigger auroras near the polar regions.
Satellites, spacecraft and communications can also take a knock when more intense winds strike.
Different streams can also mix and trigger solar or geomagnetic storms, which have in the past caused power blackouts in some parts of the world.
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Compared to winds on Earth, solar winds are weaker but much faster.
The US space agency NASA said: “When we measure solar wind speeds we typically get speeds of one to two million miles per hour.
“They end up being weaker because there is very little of it.”
The pressure exerted by solar winds is typically 1,000 million times weaker than winds on Earth.
A new sunspot was also observed on the Sun, flashing in its northeastern region on Tuesday.
Sunspots are dark regions on the Sun’s photosphere that are less dense and cooler than the surrounding material.
According to Space Weather, the new sunspot caused an “extreme ultraviolet flash”.
The website said: “A pulse of radiation from the flare briefly ionized the top of Earth’s atmosphere, causing a low-frequency radio brownout over the Atlantic Ocean.”
Adding: “C-flares are relatively minor events. The potential of this sunspot for more intense flares is unknown.”
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