The Van Allen rings are two bands that wrap around the Earth and are made up of electrical particles trapped in the planet’s magnetic field. According to NASA, intense solar storms in May recently created a temporary third belt around Earth.
“Scientists are studying the data to better understand how this band occurs and how long it can last. Follow their findings!” NASA announced on X.
Most of the charged particles entering the rings are thought to come from the solar wind, while others arrive as cosmic rays. When strong solar storms hit Earth, as they did in May, they can cause disturbances that can lead to a third layer of charged particles embedding in the magnetosphere.
The new belt, sandwiched between the two permanent ones, was discovered by NASA’s Colorado Inner Radiation Belt Experiment (CIRBE) satellite. While it’s not clear exactly how long it can last, the space agency said it would likely “last for months to years.”
It is well known that solar storms—the intense flow of high-energy particles ejected from the Sun’s atmosphere—can disrupt Earth’s Van Allen rings. in 2012 in September there was another case where strong solar weather caused a third temporary band to disappear within weeks.
in 2024 in May the geomagnetic storm was the strongest in 20 years. Along with the formation of the third Van Allen belt and the formation of a previously unseen vortex in the Earth’s atmosphere, Earthlings were most impressed by the sighting of stunning Northern Lights at latitudes not normally blessed with Northern Lights.
But make no mistake, geomagnetic storms can cause a lot of trouble. Such space weather can affect many technologies used around the world, such as GPS and satellite telecommunications. If a strong enough solar storm were to hit Earth today, it could be catastrophic, writes IFLScience.
2024-08-21 04:53:29