Experts have warned that a massive sunspot on the far side of the sun is facing us this weekend, which could lead to a potential geomagnetic storm that disrupts satellites and even wreaks havoc on air navigation systems. These sunspots, as they are known, appear darker than their circumference on the surface of the Sun, and can extend for hundreds of millions of miles.
Sunspots are the result of magnetic perturbations in the photosphere – the lowest layer of the Sun’s atmosphere – with these perturbations exposing the cooler layers of the star beneath.
According to experts at Spaceweather.com, the sunspot is “so large that it changes the way the sun vibrates.”
If the dark region of the Sun were swept away by releasing a solar flare toward Earth, it could affect Earth’s magnetic field, cause disruptions to the Global Positioning System (GPS) and communications satellites orbiting near the planet, as well as affect air navigation systems.
The US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center predicted that over the weekend, the geomagnetic field around the Earth would be unstable.
This prediction indicates that regions in higher northern latitudes could see dazzling auroras, although it is unclear if they will transform into a full-blown solar storm.
While the current sunspot was on the far side of the sun, scientists were able to track it down by studying how it affects the star’s vibrations.
“The sun is constantly vibrating due to convective bubbles hitting the surface,” said Dean Besnell, a NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) project scientist, speaking to Live Science.
Temperature differences within the Sun cause hot and cold bubbles to constantly rise and fall, stirring energy and causing vibrations that can be detected by solar observatories such as NASA’s SDO.
Read more: Solar Storm Horror: An explosion from the sun threatens to fail the power grid
Solar flares are powered by a process called “magnetic reconnection,” in which the geometry of the magnetic field in the sun’s plasma is changed.
These flares can affect Earth by heating clouds of electrically charged particles in the sun’s upper atmosphere to extremely high temperatures, releasing a mass of dirty coronal mass plasmas (CMEs),
Bisnell noted that Earth is likely to see solar flares heading towards it, and there may be some solar flares.
A NASA expert noted: “Solar flares and CMEs are the main way solar activity affects Earth.
“In my business, higher levels of solar activity mean increased clouds on satellites orbiting closer to Earth — and satellite operators would lose income if that cloud dissolved from a working satellite’s orbit.”
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