Radiation from two massive solar flares emitted from the sun on Tuesday began hitting Earth's atmosphere Thursday morning, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center said.
The flares bring a strong solar radiation storm which is capable of disrupting satellite operations and high-frequency radio transmissions.
The flares, which are associated with an event called a coronal mass ejection, also bring a strong geomagnetic storm to Earth, which can bring problems to power grids and low-frequency radio communications. At the same time, geomagnetic storms are responsible for beautiful auroras. Those may be visible as far south as Oregon and Illinois as the geomagnetic storm's intensity increases.
The effects of this wave of solar radiation are expected to linger into early Friday morning. But the sunspot that produced these effects is still facing directly at Earth, and further emissions could bring new waves of radiation.
One of Tuesday's two coronal mass ejections was the strongest observed in more than five years, NOAA said Wednesday.
The sun is in a cycle of increased sun spots. This is part of an 11-year cycle that is expected to peak over the next year. The magnetic field in a sunspot stores energy that is released in solar flares. These flares are intense bursts of radiation that get ejected into space.
- CNN
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