Denver: A powerful solar flare, triggered one of the largest space weather storms in at least four years, has disrupted some ground communications likely to disrupt airline navigation systems and power grids to the safety of airline crews and astronauts.
Classified as a Class X flare, the Feb 15 event also spewed billions of tons of charged particles toward Earth in what are called coronal mass ejections and ignited a geomagnetic storm in Earth’s magnetic field, said University of Colorado Boulder Professor Daniel Baker.
Solar coronal mass ejections can cause a variety of socioeconomic and safety issues such as disruption of airline navigation systems, satellite operations, power grids and safety of airline crews and astronauts.
“The sun is coming back to life,” said Baker. For the past several years the sun has been in its most quiescent state since early in the 20th century, he added.
From a scientific standpoint a class X event-the most powerful kind of solar flare-is exciting, said Baker.
“But as a society, we can’t afford to let our guard down when operating spacecraft in the near-Earth environment,” he said.
In the next two-three days more coronal mass ejections are likely to reach Earth’s atmosphere.
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