2024-05-12 14:57:21
London: A super-powerful solar storm supercharged Earth’s magnetic field after hitting Earth on Friday. Due to this incident, the sky in Britain and Germany lit up with Northern Lights, which people were surprised to see. America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that after a major movement inside the Sun, strong flames have risen out, which has caused coronal mass ejection (emission of plasma and magnetic fields). After this mass ejection, a magnetic storm was created which hit the Earth on Friday. Due to this the Northern Light started shining very brightly in the sky.
The sky brightened over a large area of Britain
According to the Guardian report, the Northern Lights were clearly visible in Essex, Cambridgeshire and Wokingham, located on the north-east coast of Britain. Apart from this, this light was also seen in Kent, Hampshire and Liverpool. Essex resident Kathleen Cunea shared her experience with the Guardian, saying it was truly amazing to see the Northern Lights. Northern Lights have also been seen in Ireland.
American space agency NASA has said that its Solar Dynamics Observatory has photographed the explosion in the sun. According to scientists, the Sun experiences low and high solar activity every 11 years through sunspots that occur on the Sun’s surface. These sunspots are dark areas on the Sun’s surface, which are driven by constantly changing magnetic fields. Some of these may be several times larger than the size of the Earth. During the solar cycle the Sun changes from calm to intense and active periods. During the peak of this activity, the Sun’s magnetic poles reverse and a large amount of magnetic flux is released.
Where will it be seen?
According to experts, these lights are usually more visible around the Earth’s poles, where the magnetic field is the strongest. When charged particles collide with the Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles, this process results in the Northern Lights. During coronan mass ejection, this quantity increases many times more than normal, due to which this view in the sky becomes spectacular.
Will be seen on Saturday also
Scientists say that coronal mass ejection from the Sun is still going on, hence Northern Lights can be seen even on Saturday night. News agency AFP quoted Matthew Owens, professor of space physics at Reading University, as saying that it will be felt largely over northern and southern latitudes, but where they will be visible will depend on the strength of the solar storm.
What will be the impact on the earth?
The intense flares from the sun create a strong geomagnetic field, which disrupts part of Earth’s upper atmosphere. Scientists have said that this solar storm may cause disruption in communication and GPS. The unlimited energy released from the Sun can also disrupt spacecraft electronics. Astronauts may be affected for 20 minutes to several hours. However, NASA has said that there was no harm to the astronauts in the International Space Station during the magnetic storm reaching Earth on Friday.