Solar Storm

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).
1^st 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