Geomagnetic storms may impact Earth as the Sun ejects CMEs (Image: Pixabay/For Representative Purposes Only)
These solar storms can impact the functioning of satellite operations, power grid in a minor manner and in certain cases also lead to auroras.
- News18.com
- Last Updated:February 09, 2022, 09:43 IST
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The Centre of Excellence in Space Sciences (CESS) under the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research said that the Earth will be impacted due to geomagnetic storms on the Sun’s surface.
The research institute’s models indicate that there is high probability of an impact on Earth as the material is expected to whiz past at speeds of at a speed of 21,60,000 kilometres per hour. It also said in a tweet that it is unlikely that the impact will be hazardous. It said that moderate geo storms are likely.
According to a report by spaceweather.com, the geomagnetic storms, triggered due to coronal mass ejection, will be of G1-class and the explosion will peak at category C3, which is considered to be in the weak category. Whenever the coronal mass ejection or CME collides with the Earth it causes a geomagnetic storm. A geomagnetic storm occurs when Earth’s magnetosphere is disturbed due to efficient exchange of energy from the solar winds into the space environment which surrounds Earth.
The CMEs are large expulsions of magnetic fields and plasma from the Sun’s corona. These CMEs often release billions of tons of coronal material travelling outward from the Sun towards the planets and other parts of the solar system. The speeds at which these coronal materials travel can vary from 250 kilometres per second (km/s) to as fast as 3000 km/s. The Space Weather Prediction Centre says that it takes 15-18 hours for the fastest Earth-directed CMEs to reach our planet.
A G1 class geomagnetic storm can impact the satellite operations in a minor way. Power grids could also see minor fluctuations and in high latitude areas auroras may be visible. The CESS also predicted that in the coming days there are chances of the M/X class solar flares even though space environment is currently in normal conditions.
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