A massive solar flare is expected to hit the Earth’s atmosphere, which will impact GPS navigation, mobile phone signal and satellite TV.
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a solar storm is headed towards Earth at a speed of 1.6 million kilometres per hour which is likely to hit the planet on Tuesday and Wednesday. Dubbed as a geomagnetic storm, the high-speed stream of solar wind is expected to hit Earth’s magnetic field as weather forecasters issue warnings.
The solar flare is flowing from an equatorial hole in the sun’s atmosphere and it was first detected on July 3.
Reports said that the upcoming solar flare is likely to hit Earth’s satellites which will impact the GPS navigation. It could also impact the electricity supply in some parts of the world.
A geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance of Earth’s magnetosphere that occurs when there is a very efficient exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding Earth. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the storm is the result of major changes in the currents, plasmas produced by solar winds. However, to create a geomagnetic storm, a solar wind has to sustain high speeds for a long period of time, which transfers the energy of the wind into Earth’s magnetic field.
The Sun had recently ejected one of the biggest solar flares observed in over four years that caused a radio blackout over the Atlantic. The X-class solar flare ionized the top of Earth’s atmosphere, causing a shortwave radio blackout over the Atlantic Ocean.
A solar flare is a sudden, rapid, and intense explosion on the surface of the Sun that happens when massive amounts of energy stored in magnetic fields are suddenly released.
The explosion emits radiation across the length and breadth of the universe, hurtling them towards planets in the solar system. These radiations contain radio waves, x-rays and gamma rays.
