Earth was set to be struck by more powerful solar storms on Saturday, a day after the most power events in two decades triggered spectacular celestial light shows from Tasmania to Britain and threatened possible disruptions to satellites and power grids.
The first of several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun – came just after 16.00 GMT Friday, according to the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Space Weather Prediction Center.It was later upgraded to an “extreme” geomagnetic storm – the first since the “Halloween Storms” of October 2003 caused blackouts in Sweden and damaged power infrastructure in South Africa.
More CMEs are expected to pummel the planet over the weekend. Social media lit up with people posting pictures of auroras from northern Europe and Australasia. “We’ve just woken the kids to go watch the Northern Lights in the back garden! Clearly visible with the naked eye,” Iain Mansfield in Hertford, England, told AFP.
Starlink, the satellite arm of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, warned on Saturday of a “degraded service” due to the geomagnetic storm. Starlink owns around 60% of the roughly 7,500 satellites orbiting Earth and is a dominant player in satellite internet. Musk said earlier in a post on X that Starlink satellites were under a lot of pressure due to the geomagnetic storm, but were holding up so far. The thousands of Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit use inter-satellite laser links to pass data between one another in space at the speed of light, allowing the network to offer internet coverage around the world.
Fluctuating magnetic fields associated with geomagnetic storms induce currents in long wires, including power lines, which can potentially lead to blackouts. Long pipelines can also become electrified, leading to engineering problems. Spacecraft are also at risk from high doses of radiation, although the atmosphere prevents this from reaching Earth.
Following one particularly strong flare peak, the US Space Weather Prediction Center said users of high-frequency radio signals “may experience temporary degradation or complete loss of signal on much of the sunlit side of Earth.”
Even pigeons and other species that have internal biological compasses could be affected. Pigeon handlers have noted a reduction in birds coming home during geomagnetic storms, according to Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The first of several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun – came just after 16.00 GMT Friday, according to the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Space Weather Prediction Center.It was later upgraded to an “extreme” geomagnetic storm – the first since the “Halloween Storms” of October 2003 caused blackouts in Sweden and damaged power infrastructure in South Africa.
More CMEs are expected to pummel the planet over the weekend. Social media lit up with people posting pictures of auroras from northern Europe and Australasia. “We’ve just woken the kids to go watch the Northern Lights in the back garden! Clearly visible with the naked eye,” Iain Mansfield in Hertford, England, told AFP.
Starlink, the satellite arm of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, warned on Saturday of a “degraded service” due to the geomagnetic storm. Starlink owns around 60% of the roughly 7,500 satellites orbiting Earth and is a dominant player in satellite internet. Musk said earlier in a post on X that Starlink satellites were under a lot of pressure due to the geomagnetic storm, but were holding up so far. The thousands of Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit use inter-satellite laser links to pass data between one another in space at the speed of light, allowing the network to offer internet coverage around the world.
Fluctuating magnetic fields associated with geomagnetic storms induce currents in long wires, including power lines, which can potentially lead to blackouts. Long pipelines can also become electrified, leading to engineering problems. Spacecraft are also at risk from high doses of radiation, although the atmosphere prevents this from reaching Earth.
Following one particularly strong flare peak, the US Space Weather Prediction Center said users of high-frequency radio signals “may experience temporary degradation or complete loss of signal on much of the sunlit side of Earth.”
Even pigeons and other species that have internal biological compasses could be affected. Pigeon handlers have noted a reduction in birds coming home during geomagnetic storms, according to Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.