space weather tagged posts

These animated images show the propagation of a CME as it erupts from the sun and travels through space, comparing actual NASA and ESA’s SOHO satellite observations on the right to the simulation from the new CME-modeling tool at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center on the left. SOHO observed this CME on March 7, 2011. Credit: NASA/CCMC/University of Michigan/Joy Ng

The dynamic space environment that surrounds Earth – the space our astronauts and spacecraft travel through – can be rattled by huge solar eruptions from the sun, which spew giant clouds of magnetic energy and plasma, a hot gas of electrically charged particles, out into space. The magnetic field of these solar eruptions are difficult to predict and can interact with Earth’s magnetic fields, causing space weather effects.

Space scene (stock image). Earth’s equatorial regions are largely unstudied and more susceptible to disruptive space weather than previously thought, which should prompt scientists to examine the infrastructure and economic implications on countries near the equator. Credit: © frenta / Fotolia

Dr Brett Carter of RMIT SPACE Research Centre and his team found these equatorial electrical disruptions threaten power grids in SE Asia, India, Africa and South America, where protecting electricity infrastructure from space shocks has not been a priority.

“Massive space weather events have crashed power grids across North America and Europe, but we have found that often with little warning, smaller events strike in equatorial regions more frequently than previously thought,” Carter said...