Last Wednesday at 8:50 p.m., a powerful solar flare was detected followed by the emission of a large amount of plasma into space and towards Earth, which is known as a coronal mass ejection.
The forecasts of organizations such as the National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States (NOAA) indicate that the fronts of these particle emissions will reach the Earth today. These same sources expect wide deployments of auroras even in places where they are infrequent, and perhaps also temporary disturbances in satellites and communications.
Usually, solar flares are followed by coronal mass ejections, phenomena in which the Sun throws the plasma that makes it up into space at speeds that can range from 250 to 3,000 kilometers per hour.
The arrival of the particle flow will generate a solar storm that has been typified by the NOAA of category G3. On this scale of impact, the G3 degree is considered strong: it can punctually affect some electronic devices, interfere with radio communications, both low and high frequency, and even cause small deviations to some satellites in low earth orbit
More likely, the solar storm will activate the spectacle of the northern lights, which could be seen in places where these phenomena are uncommon. In general, storms of category G3 can generate auroras in latitudes equivalent to those of northern Europe, including the northernmost areas of Germany or France, but it cannot be ruled out that they can even be seen further south
The likelihood of these types of solar events occurring will increase in the coming months as the Sun heads towards the peak of its current cycle (11-year periods when the star goes from a very low level of activity , evidenced by the number of sunspots, flares and coronal mass ejections, to a peak and then descend, again, towards a minimum that marks the beginning of a new cycle).
Specifically, although the first estimates – when the current solar cycle began – indicated that the maximum would take place in 2025, the solar activity is being much more intense than expected and at the moment the date of the maximum could be located in 2024.
The Earth has two protective shields that have allowed the development of life for billions of years. On the one hand, the planet’s magnetic field captures most of the particles emitted by the Sun and prevents them from reaching the surface, although the arrival of intense flows, such as the one planned, can saturate the Earth’s magnetic belt and generate auroras and affects in our technology. On the other hand, the atmosphere acts as a protective filter of the high-energy radiation emitted by the Sun.