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Solar Storm

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December 10, 2025

Prelims: Current events of national and international importance | Science & Technology

Why in News?

India’s Aditya-L1, along with 6 U.S. satellites has revealed why the May 2024 solar storm also known as Gannon’s storm behaved so unusually.

The 6 U.S. satellites are NASA’s Wind, ACE, THEMIS-C, STEREO-A, MMS, and NASA-NOAA joint mission DSCOVR.

  • Solar Storm – It is a sudden explosion of particles, energy, magnetic fields, and material blasted into the solar system by the Sun.
  • Causes – The Sun’s magnetic fields get twisted, like messy hair.
  • Because the Sun’s equator spins faster than its poles, the fields twist even more.
  • When they get too stretched, they snap and reconnect (called magnetic reconnection), releasing huge bursts of energy — this is how solar storms start.
  • Induce any or all the events – solar flare (bright flash of light), radiation storm (flurry of solar particles propelled into space at high speeds) and coronal mass ejection.
  • Effects – Solar storms can shake up Earth’s magnetic field, causing geomagnetic storms.
  • It may lead to radio blackouts, power cuts, and bright auroras in the sky.
  • But they don’t directly harm people because Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere protect us.

Quick Fact

Reasons for 2024’s unusual solar storm
  • Scientists noticed something unusual – 2 CMEs (coronal mass ejections) collided in space, squeezing each other so tightly that their magnetic fields snapped and reconnected.
  • This process flipped the CME’s magnetic field and made the storm’s impact much stronger than expected.

Key Discoveries

  • The reconnection region inside the CME was enormous — about 1.3 million km across (nearly 100 times Earth’s size).
  • 1st time such a giant magnetic breakup and rejoining was ever seen inside a CME.
  • Satellites also noticed particles suddenly speeding up, proving the reconnection happened.

To know about Aditya L1, click here

References

  1. The Hindu | Global effort reveals why the 2024 solar storm unusual
  2. NASA | Solar Strom
5 comments
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