The Earth could be hit by a “solar tsunami” anytime now as an unusually complex magnetic eruption on the Sun has flung a large cloud of electrically charged particles towards our planet, scientists have warned.
Solar activity is shown in an image made by NASA’s SOHO Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) instrument. The Earth could be hit by a “solar tsunami” anytime soon as an unusually complex magnetic eruption on the Sun has flung a large cloud of electrically charged particles towards our planet. REUTERS File
Several satellites, including NASA’s new Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), recorded on Sunday a small solar flare erupting above sunspot 1092, the size of the Earth. The satellites also recorded a large filament of cool gas stretching across the Sun’s northern hemisphere also exploded into space
Solar activity is shown in an image made by NASA’s SOHO Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO). Several satellites recorded a large filament of cool gas stretching across the Sun’s northern hemisphere which also exploded into space. REUTERS File
The explosion, called a coronal mass ejection, was aimed directly towards Earth, which then sent a “solar tsunami” racing 93 million miles across space, the New Scientist reported. When the violent cloud hits, which could be anytime now, it could spark aurorae in the skies around the poles and pose a threat to satellites, although not a severe one, it said.
Solar flares produce seismic waves and gigantic seismic quakes in the Sun’s interior, as shown here. The explosion, called a coronal mass ejection, was aimed directly towards Earth, which then sent a “solar tsunami” racing 93 million miles across space. REUTERS File
Despite being separated by hundreds of thousands of kilometres, the two events may be linked, said astronomers who studied the images from SDO that hint at a shock wave travelling from the flare into the filament.
“These are two distinct phenomena but they are obviously related,” said Len Culhane, a solar physicist at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London.
The Sun is “sneezing” a huge bubble of hydrogen gas,as seen by the SOHO explorer, a joint NASA-European Space Agency project.REUTERS File
Experts said the wave of supercharged gas will likely reach the Earth on Tuesday, when it will buffet the natural magnetic shield protecting Earth. It is likely to spark spectacular displays of aurora or northern and southern lights.
“This eruption is directed right at us,” said Leon Golub, of Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics. “It’s the first major Earth-directed eruption in quite some time,” Golub was quoted as saying by the Telegraph.