The Summary
- The recent flurry of solar storms suggests the sun is in a period of maximal activity as part of its 11-year cycle.
- The active period is likely to continue over the next year, so more auroras could be in store.
- Next month, NASA will get an up-close view of the solar activity as the Parker Solar Probe makes its closest-ever approach to the sun.
The sun is up.
With massive flares shooting off the surface and spitting streamers of plasma and charged particles into space, Earth’s star has become more active in recent months. Our planet has been targeted by a number of solar storms, which have caused powerful geomagnetic storms and extremely bright northern light displays.
Experts say that the sun’s recent spurts of activity, which follow years of relative quiet and tranquility, are a clear indication that the star has entered a busy phase of its natural cycle: solar maximum.
More solar storms and breathtaking auroras may be in store as the active phase is expected to last for the upcoming year.
According to Kelly Korreck, a program scientist in NASA’s heliophysics branch, this is unquestionably the season for large solar storms. I predict that auroras will once more light up the heavens.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will make its closest-ever approach to the sun on December 24th, giving the agency a close-up look at the high solar activity later this month.
More than any other man-made object in history, the spacecraft is headed to fly within 3.86 million miles of the solar surface. It is anticipated to pass through the sun’s plasma plumes and even plunge into the star’s active areas.
According to Korreck, this is equivalent to crossing the sun’s 4-yard line on an American football field with the earth on one side and the sun on the other.
The Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 with the goal of investigating the corona, an extremely heated area of the sun’s atmosphere. The car-sized spacecraft passed Venus last month in a maneuver that will help propel it closer to the sun.
According to Korreck, if there are active sunspot regions—transient structures that manifest as dark blemishes on the sun’s surface—along the probe’s course, its close approach could provide very insightful information. Researchers may be better able to comprehend how the sun’s activity waxes and wanes with the use of such observations.
The solar cycle, which alternates between periods of low and high magnetic activity, typically lasts about 11 years. The star’s magnetic poles reverse as it exits its quiet phase, solar minimum, and approaches solar maximum, when activity is increased and eruptions become more frequent and powerful.
Sunspot generation is the primary indicator used by scientists to determine when the sun has reached its maximum. According to Korreck, the sun’s magnetic field becomes roiled as it rotates, distorting and tightening in certain places. This is what produces the dark patches known as sunspots in telescope photographs.
According to Korreck, the sun is a magnetic ball, but because it is not a solid entity, its magnetic field becomes distorted as it rotates.
As the star approaches solar maximum, the quantity of those sunspots steadily rises. Researchers can determine the beginning and conclusion of the active period once there is a discernible drop.
According to NASA, the magnetic field in some sunspot regions can be almost 2,500 times greater than the Earth’s. Solar storms are the result of sunspots releasing massive amounts of stored magnetic energy over time.
This year, two powerful solar storms—one in May and the other in early October—astonished skywatchers as far south as Texas and Alabama with their vivid pink, green, and purple night skies. According to NASA, the May incident was the most powerful geomagnetic storm to strike Earth in 20 years.
When charged particle clouds that are ejected from the sun during solar storms collide with Earth’s magnetic field and interact with atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, auroras are created. Usually only seen at high latitudes, the multicolored displays are a lovely result of that process. Intense solar activity, however, can cause the lights to stray significantly further south than normal.
However, there may also be adverse effects. Strong geomagnetic storms can interfere with satellites in orbit, GPS systems, and people in space.
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