After the sun burst plasma and sent a fireball of energy hurtling into space yesterday, a major solar storm is heading towards Earth. In the late hours of March 11, an unexpected solar flare erupted on the Sun and lasted for hours.
Massive plasma eruption
The coronal mass ejection (CME) was said to have been propelled at a speed of 600 kilometers per second. As a result of the eruption occurring on the Earth-facing side of the Sun, our home planet will be blasted by a solar storm on Sunday, March 13 which might be as powerful as G1 or G2, according to HT Tech.
Although the solar storm is expected to be small, its effects will still be visible in the form of auroras horizon if the conditions are favorable. Aside from that, the solar storm may potentially cause slight problems in the operation of several smaller satellites orbiting the planet.
Captured by Solar Orbiter
According to the European Space Agency (ESA), a massive eruption occurred on February 15 and spread millions of kilometers into space. Fortunately, the plasma stream isn’t hurtling toward the Earth at breakneck speed. The solar disc in front of the ESA’s Solar Orbiter probe shows no signs of the eruption, according to the agency. As a result, it most likely came from the other side of the Sun. It doesn’t matter where the plasma is coming from, it’s now traveling away from the Earth.
As reported by BGR, solar eruptions like this one serve as a harsh reminder of just how unpredictable the Sun is. Solar prominences spreading out from the orb of light captured this moment in time. Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the Sun’s surface are frequently linked to solar prominences.
When they happen in front of the Earth, they can cause serious damage to our technology and the planet itself. The image was taken by the Solar Orbiter’s Full Sun Imager. Instruments like this one are part of the Extreme UV Imager (EUI). To get an up-close and personal view of our star, the European Space Agency and NASA rely on the FSI.
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