TThe strong solar gusts that have erupted since Sunday have made themselves felt here on Earth. Our star released three large clots of plasma and the magnetic field, which remind large pieces of twisted rope known as coronal mass ejections. The Sun ejects these CMEs at speeds of more than 1 million miles per hour, and they typically follow solar flares—emissions of radiation from the Sun.
Yesterday scientists watched the strongest solar flare this year, which was close to the top of the scale with a rating of X5.1.
As of this writing, two of the three recent CMEs made it to Earth on the night of November 11 and painted stunning auroras across southern Florida and Mexico amid a severe geomagnetic storm. Now, the third and most intense CME is predicted to arrive here sometime today and mark a major storm once again –Maybe even a category higher than yesterday.
All this recent noise comes from an active sunspot called AR4274, which is currently facing Earth. Once these bursts of energy reach Earth, they can interfere with critical communications systems. Yesterday this uncontrollable space weather caused radio blackouts across Europe and Africa. This is because solar energy penetrates our planet's magnetosphere and sends radiation particles down magnetic field lines. These particles hit atoms in the Earth's upper atmosphere, causing geomagnetic storms that bring beautiful auroras but also disrupt GPS signals, satellite electronics, radio communications and our electrical grids.
You may have noticed a lot of solar activity over the past few years. This is because we are in especially active phase current solar cycle. About every 11 years, the Sun's magnetic poles change during the height of solar activity—when our star's magnetic fields tend to be at their most chaotic. This could lead to more CMEs that could affect us here on Earth. The peak of the current solar cycle may have past last year – or we are now in the midst of it, astronomers say.
Read more: “The insidious force behind our Sun's violent flares»
However, CMEs are not limited to our Sun. Recently, scientists for the first time discovered Strong evidence of a coronal mass ejection from another star: Astronomers have spotted a brief but intense radio signal from a red dwarf star located about 40 light-years from Earth. This star is very different from our Sun – it is much cooler and smaller, and its magnetic field is 300 times stronger. The CME appeared to be hurtling through space at nearly 1,500 miles per second, much faster than observed by most CMEs ejected from our life-giving star.
Scientists believe stormy space weather may be even more intense around other small stars like this red dwarf, putting our recent lulls in solar activity into perspective.
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Main image: Space Weather Prediction Center/NOAA.
