Exposure to sunlight is well-known by scientists to have amazing health benefits. Strengthening the immune system, maintaining strong bones, overcoming depression, producing vitamin D, and much more – they’re all on the list! But the Sun also has a dark side, and it doesn’t seem to care if we like it or not.
Express.co.uk reveals that our beloved Sun has unleashed a new coronal mass injection (CME) on Wednesday, and the Earth could be in its trajectory this Saturday (November 27). What happened is that a large filament was ejected from the southern hemisphere of our star.
“A glancing blow to Earth’s magnetic field”
The effects of the solar event will be intercepted by our planet, as SpaceWeather.com confirms it by stating, according to Express.co.uk:
First-look data suggest it might deliver a glancing blow to Earth’s magnetic field on November 28.
The astronomers compared the event with something more familiar to us all, and it’s indeed frightening, as also quoted by Express.co.uk:
Imagine a canyon 50,000 miles long with towering walls of red-hot plasma.
Yesterday, there was one on the Sun.
It formed when a filament of magnetism lifted off from the southern hemisphere.
The erupting filament split the Sun’s atmosphere, carving out the canyon as it ascended.
The glowing walls remained intact for more than six hours after the explosion.
The Sun has been pretty “naughty” recently, and the outburst from Wednesday is not the only proof. Much earlier this month, our star ejected another solar storm that made an agency warn about possible interferings with power grids, radio signals, and satellites.
Solar storms are nothing to be neglected. Not too long ago, an Indian researcher warned that a massive solar storm could even be capable of shutting down the internet, according to HindustanTimes.com. Most of us surely can’t imagine our lives without the internet!
