Here’s our latest article. This one is very important, so make sure to prepare for what’s coming. You can read it below or see it on the website here: https://theweeklynews0.wixsite.com/yourweeklynews/massive-sunstorm-approaches
BREAKING NEWS: A massive sunstorm is approaching Earth and could cause blackouts, internet outages, and more electronic problems. Read on to find out more.
What is going on? A sunstorm? Let's find out. Want to skip the complex science stuff? Skip ahead to paragraph 5 (this is paragraph 1).
First off, a large sunstorm is also known as a coronal mass ejection (CME). CMEs are large releases of plasma from the Sun's corona into the existing magnetic field. A corona is the outer layer of a star like the Sun, and is normally made of plasma.
But how do CMEs happen? Well, you need to first have a sunspot. A sunspot is a planet-sized area on the Sun where the magnetic field is stronger than the rest of the Sun. This causes the plasma in the corona to erupt violently out of the Sun's surface. That is then called a coronal mass ejection because the plasma massively ejects out of the corona.
And how often do they happen? Well, first you need to understand what the solar maxima and minima are. Yeah, it's a lot of science. First, you need to understand that the sun has an 11-year solar cycle. This solar cycle results in increased CME activity during some specific parts of the cycle. This is called the solar maxima. Meanwhile, the solar minima is when the CME activity is heavily decreased in the cycle. So going back to the question, how often do CMEs happen? Near solar minima, there is about 1 CME every 5 days. On the other hand, during solar maxima, the Sun produces about three CMEs a day.
So during solar maxima, if the Sun makes three CMEs a day, how come we don't feel the effects of any of those? Well, it's because the Sun is 93 million miles away from Earth. Only extremely strong CMEs are strong enough to escape the Sun's gravitational pull.
Once these extremely strong CMEs enter what is called, interplanetary space, they are titled as interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICME). ICMEs are then, finally, titled, sunstorms, or solar tsunamis. They travel millions and millions of miles through space. These can then hit Earth's magnetosphere.
But what are the effects of these sunstorms hitting Earth's magnetic field? Let's find out. When ICMEs hit the magnetosphere, they cause good and bad things. The bad things are that the following magnetic ripple in the field can cause blackouts, fires, electronic cable malfunctions, and internet outages. Although there is one good thing. The said ripple can also cause beautiful auroras in the far north and south, and when a sunstorm hits, you don't want to miss its aurora.
The massive sunstorm approaching Earth is expected to hit sometime this week, with the possibility of it hitting starting on Saturday, July 23, 2022, and it will cause massive global effects, so be prepared. Your household could face internet problems, electronic malfunctions, and even blackouts.
By Armaan Dhawan
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