A powerful solar storm is approaching the Earth at a speed of 1.6 million kilometers per hour. The storm is expected to accelerate and appear sometime this week, disturbing mobile phone signals, digital navigation systems, and satellite television.
On July 3rd, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shared in a blog that the “sun emitted a significant solar flare peaking at 10:29 a.m. EDT on July 3, 2021. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.”
“Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth’s atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however — when intense enough — they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.”
The Space Weather Prediction Centre rated the solar storm at X1. The biggest solar flares are categorized as “X-class flares.”
The Carrington Event of 1895 is the largest documented solar storm. The storm took place on September 1, 1859. The event was named after astronomer Richard Carrington, who witnessed the event through his telescope. The storm created aurora displays, natural light displays in the Earth’s sky, interruptions in global telegraph communications, and fires.
