Thursday 12/December/2024 – 12:35 PM
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced minor to moderate power outages Thursday due to a Category
Power outages due to solar explosions today, Thursday
According to the British Daily Mail, experts expected that the possibility of interruption of radio services would reach 60% since Sunday and continue until Thursday, after the sun released an extremely powerful solar flare and sent it quickly towards Earth.
This was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME), or a huge bubble of solar plasma and radiation bursting from the sun’s corona. CMEs may collide with Earth’s magnetosphere, the region around the planet dominated by the electromagnetic field, but only mild impacts are expected. According to space weather physicist Tamitha Skov.
Scientists are still analyzing coronal mass ejections to better understand their path and potential impact. Meanwhile, solar flares are expected to continue causing interruptions to radio services this week.
What are solar flares?
Solar flares are explosions of electromagnetic radiation that explode from sunspots, or dark areas of the Sun’s surface caused by strong magnetic fields.
When the glow is strong enough, it emits intense levels of X-rays and ultraviolet radiation that ionize or charge the lower layers of the ionosphere, degrading or completely absorbing high-frequency radio signals, and thus radio blackouts.
Solar peak
The Sun is currently reaching solar zenith, an 11-year cycle marked by high solar activity, meaning events such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections are particularly common at the moment.
On October 15, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Solar Cycle Prediction Commission confirmed that the Sun has reached its maximum solar period, which may last throughout next year. This means that we are likely to see more powerful solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and more. One of the solar events that we have not yet seen.
