Experts speculate about the strength of the solar storm
What is certain is that the storm on thursday had dislodged itself from the sun 150 million kilometers away. He should hit the earth on saturday afternoon according to calculations.
Esa expert juka-pekka lontama said late saturday afternoon that the esa is expecting a "moderate" to "strong" storm. US weather agency NOAA expects "weak" to "moderate" consequences.
According to lontama, the solar storm has its own magnetic field. If this is directed northwest when it hits the earth's magnetic field, it is expected to cause only a weak solar storm. "But if the magnetic field is oriented southward, we will get strong consequences," lontama expected.
As a result of solar storms, power grids and cell phone connections can be affected, as well as air traffic. The impact could hit scandinavia, canada and northern europe.
The eruption region on the sun is slightly to the south, astrophysicist volker bothmer of the university of gottingen said. The so-called coronal mass ejection (CME) raced off at just under 1,500 kilometers per second; close to earth, it is expected to travel at around 800 kilometers per second. With clear weather polar lights could be observed in northern europe.
Severe solar storms can disrupt satellites, electrical systems, navigation systems like GPS and radio communications. In 2003, such a storm caused, among other things, a power outage in sweden lasting several hours, a failure of the european airborne radar, the postponement of more than 60 flights in the u.S. And the loss of the "midori 2" research satellite.
NOAA expected the geomagnetic intensity of the storm to be G2 on the scale from G1 (weakest) to G5 (strongest) this sunday. The explosion also sent large amounts of ultraviolet radiation towards the earth, according to "spaceweather".Com".
Solar activity fluctuates at a rate of about eleven years and has been increasing again since 2010: solar storms are becoming more frequent and stronger. The reason for the fluctuations in activity is the rhythm of gas transport in the eclipses of the sun.