Magnetic storms to hit Earth this week

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the British Met Office's Space Weather Prediction Center have issued alerts for light and moderate geomagnetic storms over the next two days.

According to ScienceAlert.

 The site indicated that there may be fluctuations in the power grid and some disturbances in the activity of migratory animals.

And if conditions are right, satellites can be taken out of the sky.

We may also see a rise in both the aurora borealis and australian aurora.

The sun's corona - the outermost region of its atmosphere - explodes, releasing plasma and magnetic fields into space.

And if the CME is pointed at Earth, the collision of solar ejections with Earth's magnetic field can cause a geomagnetic storm - also known as a solar storm.

The solar wind emerges from "holes" in the sun's corona.

These are cooler, less dense regions of plasma in the Sun's atmosphere, with more open magnetic fields.

These open areas allow the solar wind to escape more easily, blowing electromagnetic radiation into space at high speeds;

If the hole faces the ground, that wind can blow directly at us.

When charged particles from the Sun hit Earth's atmosphere, they are directed along Earth's magnetic field lines to the poles, where they fall into the upper atmosphere and interact with particles in it.

This reaction ionizes the molecules and makes them glow;

This is the twilight.

According to Russia Today, which carried the report.

According to the aurora space weather forecast, March 14 and 15 have maximum levels of Kp 6 and Kp 5 respectively on the 10-point Kp index of geomagnetic activity.

That means there's a strong probability of dynamic bright auroras with the potential for an auroral corona, so it's a good time to go chasing the lights in the sky.

And if the sun seems to be getting more active lately, that's because it is.

Our star goes through 11-year cycles of activity, with a noticeable peak and trough, known as the Sun's maximum and Sun minimum.

Solar minimum occurs, when the sun's magnetic field is at its weakest, when the sun's magnetic poles shift positions.

The most recent solar minimum occurred in December 2019.

This means that we are currently climbing towards the Sun's maximum, when the Sun's magnetic field is at its strongest.

And since the sun's magnetic field controls its activity, this means we'll see a rise in sunspots, solar flares, and CMEs.

The solar maximum is set to occur in July 2025. It can be difficult to predict how active any given cycle will be, but there is evidence to suggest that we may be entering the strongest cycle on record yet.

And more powerful solar storms can cause more serious problems, so hopefully our star will keep a relatively low profile.

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