Spectacular butterfly-shaped solar flares!
Recommended for Preparatory Grades
Astronomers saw something cool in the sun. They saw a coronal mass ejection that looked like a butterfly with plasma wings. Also, the explosion was so big that it went towards Mercury.
This kind of explosion is called a coronal mass ejection (CME). It happens when the sun’s magnetic fields knot and then snap. It releases a lot of energy and can make big plumes of solar material that go out into space.
Key facts!
- Firstly, when the sun has an explosion called a coronal mass ejection, it shoots out really fast and can collect charged particles to make a big wave.
- Most look like smoke rings or halos.
- Secondly, the researchers couldn’t see what caused the butterfly-shaped one because it was on the other side of the sun.
- Also, this time it didn’t hit Earth, but it hit Mercury.
- Thirdly, when a CME hits Earth, it could cause geomagnetic storms that make the northern lights.
- Also, the strong ones can mess up satellites and even the internet.
- For example, in 1859, there was a really big solar storm called the “Carrington Event”.
- It was the strongest one and was as powerful as a lot of nuclear bombs exploding.
- The storm made telegraph systems stop working all over the world and made the northern lights really bright in places like the Caribbean.
- So, if this happened today, it could be really bad and cost a lot of money and even hurt people.
- A solar storm in 1989 knocked off power in Quebec.
- Scientists think there will be more storms in the next few years, and they will be the strongest in 2025.
Related Articles
The “What If” channel on YouTube considers the potential effects of a solar storm on Earth.
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