miércoles, 4 de agosto de 2010

Solar Tsunami Could Hit Satellites

The solar tsunami, which is directed towards the Earth after a massive explosion in the Sun, could adversely affect orbiting satellites, scientists have warned.
 
A wave of supercharged particles is expected to hit the natural magnetic field around the Earth sometime in the evening of August 3 and August 4. This wave will trigger a spectacular display of aurora or the northern and southern lights. Over the weekend, NASA’s new Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded solar fireworks triggered off by a massive explosion in the Sun called the coronal mass ejection. NASA says this was a C3-class solar flare. The origin of the blast was Earth-facing sunspot 1092.
 

 
This explosion was directed at the Earth and triggered off a “solar tsunami” racing 93 million miles in the space. These ionized particles are due to hit Earth late on Tuesday evening and may last into Wednesday as well. "On the evening of August 3rd/4th, skywatchers in the northern U.S. and other countries should look toward the north for the rippling dancing “curtains” of green and red light," NASA said.
 
Experts fear that the wave may affect communication satellites, the New Scientist reported . Intelsat's Galaxy 15 was put out in April by what is thought to be a massive gust of solar particles.
 
The Sun has been in slumber for a long time now and NASA scientists have warned that this event may be a harbinger to the fact that the Sun is waking up. It is expected that in 2013 there will be maximum activity on the Sun's surface.
 

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