solar geomagnetic storms tagged posts

Solving Solar Puzzle could help save Earth from Planet-wide Blackouts

Artist's image of the internal structure of the Sun. NASA
Diagram showing the internal structure of the Sun based on existing theory that assumes circular convection cells near the solar surface. Dr Vasil’s new model suggests thinner, spinning ‘cigar-shaped’ convection cells driving the Sun’s magnetic dynamo. Image: NASA

Scientists in Australia and in the USA have solved a long-standing mystery about the Sun that could help astronomers predict space weather and help us prepare for potentially devastating geomagnetic storms if they were to hit Earth.

The Sun’s internal magnetic field is directly responsible for space weather — streams of high-energy particles from the Sun that can be triggered by solar flares, sunspots or coronal mass ejections that produce geomagnetic storms...

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