It’s no laughing matter.
NOAA’s National Weather Service has issued a G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm watch for Saturday (Oct. 29). (Image credit: NASA/SDO)
The sun appears very ‘happy’ today in NASA’s latest Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) images. But don’t be fooled by its cheery appearance — that ‘face’ is spewing vast streams of solar wind that could trigger a solar storm on Earth, albeit a rather mild one.
The three dark patches that make the sun‘s ‘ face’ are coronal holes — regions of open magnetic field line structures that allow solar wind to readily escape(opens in new tab) instead of looping back on themselves. Torrents of solar material can surge out of coronal holes at speeds of up to 1.8 million mph (2.9 million kph), according to the Exploratorium,(opens in new tab) a science museum in San Francisco. The regions appear dark because they are cooler and less dense than the surrounding plasma regions.
Earth is currently in the firing line of the trio of solar wind streams, which could hit our planet in the next few days. In response, NOAA’s National Weather Service has issued a G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm(opens in new tab) watch for Saturday (Oct. 29).
Source: The sun’s ‘smile’ has Earth on solar storm watch for Halloween | Space
Leave a Reply