Solar storms are a natural phenomenon. These are sudden explosions of particles, energy, and materials from the sun into our solar system. When these materials reach Earth, they are usually deflected and kept out by the magnetic field, but they can cause radio blackouts and power outages. On some rare occasions, they follow field lines, and upon entering these, the materials cause auroras. There are no real dangers due to the atmosphere of our planet. If not for the protection, we would experience horrible storms and many disruptions to satellites and GPS.
What’s the cause of these solar storms? A process simpler than you think. Reports from NASA show that the sun’s magnetic field gets twisted as the sun rotates. Jason Plawa, Earth and Space teacher at Pennridge High School, explained this further. “The sun has something called differential rotation, which means that different parts of the sun rotate at different rates. That change twists the magnetic field lines and stretches. That release of energy causes them to break and eject a mass of energy.” This process creates solar flares, radiation storms, and coronal mass ejections – the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines them as large expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s corona. These three are all generated from the powerful eruptions of the sun. A solar flare is defined as an intense burst of radiation or light from the sun. The mere power of these is unimaginable, but NASA puts it more in perspective. They state that the biggest solar flares can have as much energy as a billion hydrogen bombs, causing them to be the strongest explosions in the solar system. Radiation storms are started by solar eruptions, accelerating protons and electrons into outer space at high speeds. This can penetrate satellites and pass through human tissue, which raises radiation risks in people. Lastly, taking a closer look at coronal mass ejections, these can push billions of material into space. Just like solar flares, CMEs are super powerful and can harm Earth if reached.
NASA’s Heliophysics Education Activation Team Leader, Michael Kirk, brought in another point of solar storms: why is Earth directed at versus the other planets? He explained, “The earth is in the ecliptic. What that means is that the earth and all the planets orbit around, sort of like a record on a record player. It’s one big disc. So all the planets are pretty much in that one plane – The sun also rotates as well, and the solar equator is pretty much aligned with the ecliptic – The solar ecliptic also then is where the magnetic field sort of funnel activities and most of the solar storms get sort of pushed down to that flat plane as well – that makes it more probable that one’s going to hit earth.” To simplify, the reason solar storms gravitate towards us is that the Earth is in the ecliptic, the path the Sun follows over a year, and the solar equator is aligned with that trail. The solar ecliptic pushes the storms to the flat plane the planets orbit on, causing our home to have a higher possibility of being hit.
To put it in perspective, in 2012, Earth was almost crashed by a solar storm. It was heading for us, but thankfully hit a spacecraft instead. If it passed through the atmosphere, the world would have an international power outage to the point where relying on water and plumbing would be impossible. On top of that, it would have taken years upon years to repair. Fortunately, Earth’s atmosphere protects us. Even when one hits, usually only minor technological impacts and auroras occur.
Sources:
https://science.nasa.gov/sun/solar-storms-and-flares/
https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/5-geomagnetic-storms-reshaped-society
https://science.nasa.gov/sun/sunspots/
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/nmp/st5/SCIENCE/solarwind.html
