(ORDO NEWS) — The Sun has been quite active lately, delighting scientists and amateur astronomers.
This week, its activity turned into a powerful explosion on the far side, causing a magnificent coronal mass ejection (CME), which scientists have described as “an unusual event.”
Fortunately, the Earth was not in the way of the CME , but Venus was attacked , which was hit by sunstroke twice in less than a week.
Not only Venus suffered
The first CME that collided with its neighbor planet on September 1 also hit the Solar Orbiter spacecraft , built by the European Space Agency (ESA) with NASA support to explore the Sun.
Fortunately, Solar Orbiter was not damaged. However, this means that we must pay close attention to CMEs even on the far side of the Sun, as they also pose a serious threat.
The second CME, which occurred on September 5, was colossal: a powerful M-2 class flare occurred on the Sun.
“This is not a typical event,” said George Ho, lead data analyst for the Energy Particle Detector aboard Solar Orbiter.
“I can confidently say that the September 5th event is one of the largest, if not the largest, solar energy particle storms we have recorded since the launch of Solar Orbiter in 2020.”
A coronal mass ejection is what happens when sunspots flare, throwing charged particles into space.
If they reach the Earth, they interact with the magnetosphere and head towards the geomagnetic poles, creating beautiful auroras.
Powerful CMEs can cause strong geomagnetic storms, which can lead to serious consequences, which we described in the article “A solar storm can put an end to our civilization” .
It is likely that the active sunspot AR 3088, which appeared in August, is the source of the powerful eruption.
The Sun’s rotation will put AR 3088 on the visible side of the star in just over a week, so we’re probably still at risk of being hit.
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