x
Breaking News
More () »

Solar storm watch in effect Wed., Thursday

A solar storm is headed for the Earth. A 'watch' is in effect.
File photo from Getty ThinkStock

NOAA issued a minor Geomagnetic Storm Watch for Wednesday and Thursday. Two satellites spotted the activity on the Sun's surface.

Aurora may be visible in the higher latitudes and the storm could cause some minor power grid fluctuations.

According to NOAA, possible effects include weak power grid fluctuations and minor impacts on satellite operations.

Below, NASA explains what solar storms are and how they affect Earth:

"Solar storms are a variety of eruptions of mass and energy from the solar surface. Flares, prominences, sunspots, coronal mass ejections are the common harbingers of solar activity, as are plages and other related phenomena seen at other wavelengths. They all involve sudden releases of stored magnetic energy, which accelerates the hot gases near the surface or in the corona of the Sun. Sometimes these particles make it all the way to the Earth and beyond by flowing along the Sun's magnetic field into interplanetary space. When the material collides with the Earth's magnetic field and trapped radiation belts, it can dump particles into our upper atmosphere to cause the Aurora. The same 'charged' particles can produce their own magnetic fields which can modify the Earth's magnetic field and affect compass readings. The changing magnetic fields can also 'induce' electricity in long pipelines, or produce electrical surges in our power grids leading to brown outs and black outs."

Before You Leave, Check This Out