A massive coronal hole on the sun is recently discovered to be facing the Earth creating a couple of solar storms directly to our planet. The said solar storm is believed to have a huge potential adverse effect on the communication and electrical systems especially if the Earth's magnetic field was hit by some charged particles, causing these problems to arise.
Daily Mail has recently reported that several cautionary advisories have already been released by the operator of the biggest power grid in the US. Experts also claim that the warnings based on space weather forecast may not just affect some parts of the world but could possess a global impact.
According to the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center, it was found that voltage correction may be required as false alarms triggered on some protection devices.
However, Metro said that NASA has already made some clarifications with regards to the said phenomenon. It is said that coronal holes are basically low-density regions of the sun's atmosphere, commonly known as the corona. Due to the fact that they contain meager quantity of solar materials, they also have lower temperatures; hence, they appear much darker than their surroundings.
Allegedly, coronal holes are said to be the source of a high-speed wind of solar particles that streams off the sun three times faster than the slower wind that can be felt elsewhere.
As per Craig DeForest, lead author of the paper and a solar physicist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, the farther you go from the sun, the faster that the magnetic field drops than the pressure coming from the material. Eventually, reports have it that the material will start to act more like a gas and less like of a magnetically structured plasma.
On the brighter side, though, there lies good news for Northern Lights enthusiasts. The coronal holes which cause the storm also means an increased chance for a stunning glimpse of aurora borealis displays.
