Next year the Sun will be very stormy, says NASA

The huge ball of hot gas at the center of our solar system will become excited next year. NASA said.

The Sun has reached its “maximum solar period,” the highest level of activity in its 11-year solar cycle. That's normal, but it will certainly bring more solar storms, the kind that disrupt our power grids and communications systems but can light up the sky with brilliant auroras.

“It's official: We have reached solar maximum!” Published online by the space agency. “Expect solar flares, auroras and more.”

Like storm seasons or weather patterns, the Earth experiences a solar climate cycle. The sun lasts 11 years. During this period, solar activity increases for about 5.5 years, then decreases, and then resumes.

“This is the space equivalent of hurricane season. “We're getting somewhere else,” Mark Misch, a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center, told Mashable as solar activity increased.

Solar scientists look at sunspots (cold areas on the Sun's surface that often form during solar flares) to determine when the Sun is approaching or reaching its peak of activity. (Solar maximum, the month in which solar activity peaks, occurs during this period.) As shown below, more sunspots mean more activity.

The tweet may have been deleted.

The Sun, a medium-sized star, has already demonstrated intense activity in 2024, the spectacular northern lights. “In May 2024, large solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) propelled clouds of charged particles and magnetic fields toward Earth, creating the strongest geomagnetic storm on Earth in two decades, and possibly one of the largest aurora displays.” strongest ever recorded. In the last 500 years,” NASA said in a statement.

(When solar particles hit our planet, some become trapped in Earth's magnetic field, travel to the poles, and collide with molecules and particles in our atmosphere. During these collisions, these atmospheric particles heat up and glow.)

How solar storms affect Earth and people

The different types of solar flares that can affect Earth are problematic:

1. Tanned: Bursts of light from the surface of the Sun. Driven by the behavior of the Sun's magnetic field, they emit large amounts of energy (visible light, X-rays, and more) into space.

2. Coronal mass ejections (CME): These occur when the Sun expels superheated gas (plasma). “It's like taking a piece of the sun and throwing it into space,” NOAA's Misch explained. Sometimes solar flares trigger CMEs, sometimes they don't.

3. Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) Events: These are basically solar flares with many energetic particles. They are especially dangerous for astronauts and satellites.

The big question is how different types of combustion and radiation affect our lives. FortunatelyLife on Earth is protected from such particles and radiation. Our atmosphere protects us from X-rays and energetic particles like space. Meanwhile, Earth's powerful magnetic field (created by Earth's metallic core) deflects many particles from solar storms and protects us from the Sun's relentless solar wind, the constant flow of particles (electrons and protons) from our star. .

A spectrum of technical risks with even greater severity Problem in a nutshell do Very harmfulA strong solar flare or CME can occur when it hits Earth. A powerful CME, for example, can induce intense currents in our power grids and other damaging effects on satellites. It is infamous that in 1989 a powerful CME left millions of people without electricity in Quebec, Canada. The CME hit Earth's magnetic field on March 12 of that year, and NASA astronomer Sten Odenwald later wrote: “Just after 2:44 a.m. on March 13, currents detected a weakness in Quebec's electrical grid. In less than two minutes, Quebec's entire power grid lost power during a 12-hour blackout. It's scary, really.

Left: Sun during the solar eclipse. Right: Sun during solar minimum.
Credit: NASA/SDO

The tweet may have been deleted.

Essentially, even larger solar storms are inevitable. The largest episode of its kind ever observed The Carrington EventIn 1859. Solar storms produced auroras so bright that they woke up Rocky Mountain gold miners at 1 a.m., and it was said that people could read newspapers thanks to the eerie atmospheric light.

Such an event today – if not properly prepared – could cause widespread power outages and ruin communications satellites. “If it happened today, it would cause a lot of damage,” Andrew Layton, chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Bowling Green State University, told Mashable. “No one knows when that Carrington-level event will happen again.” A National Academies report says the social and economic costs of a “severe geomagnetic storm scenario” are estimated at $1 trillion to $2 trillion in the first year alone, and are recovered in 4 to 10 years.

Fortunately, we have space weather forecasters like NASA and NOAA who can warn of incoming bursts of charged particles and radiation. For example, energy companies may temporarily shut down power grids to prevent permanent damage to infrastructure.

Enjoy the coming dawn. But don't be surprised if the sun comes out. billions Tons of solar material travel, at millions of kilometers per hour, directly to Earth.