The stream of solar particles is stemming from a sinuous hole in the southern hemisphere of the Sun’s atmosphere. A sinuous hole is one which stretches over large parts of the Sun and is often distorted with many twists and turns. When the particles hit, it will result in a solar storm for Earth which could see Southern or Northern Lights – or aurora australis and aurora borealis – depending on which hemisphere the solar winds hit.
As the magnetosphere gets bombarded by solar winds, stunning blue lights can appear over the upper reaches of the Northern hemisphere and the lower parts of the southern hemisphere.
Website Space Weather said: “The gaseous material is flowing from a sinuous hole in the sun’s atmosphere, south of the heliographic equator. It is not expected to spark a full-fledged geomagnetic storm.
“However, polar auroras are likely when the solar wind arrives.”
While this storm is not expected to be overly powerful, the Met Office has warned that we will face a monumental solar storm in the future, which could knock out Britain’s technology and cost the UK almost £16billion in damages.
The country could be blunged into a blackout because it is not prepared enough for powerful solar storms, the Met Office told ministers.
The weather forecaster believes the UK does not have sufficient infrastructure to prepare ourselves for such an event.
A researcher from the Met Office said: “We find that for a one-in-100-year event, with no space weather forecasting capability, the gross domestic product loss to the United Kingdom could be as high as £15.9bn.
“With existing satellites nearing the end of their life, forecasting capability will decrease in coming years, so if no further investment takes place, critical infrastructure will become more vulnerable to space weather.”
Solar storms wreak havoc on global technology as the radiation which pummels our planet heats up the outer atmosphere, causing it to expand.
This means satellite signals will struggle to penetrate the swollen atmosphere, leading to a lack of Internet service, GPS navigation, satellite TV such as Sky and mobile phone signal.
Additionally, increased currents in the Earth’s magnetic field – or magnetosphere – could theoretically lead to a surge of electricity in power lines, which can blow out electrical transformers and power stations leading to a temporary loss of electricity.
The biggest storm known to us was the Carrington Event which occurred in September 1859.
During that solar storm, the sun unleashed a series of powerful solar flares that were so powerful telegraph operators’ offices experienced a surge in electricity which resulted in some buildings setting on fire.
The storm was so powerful its southern auroras could be seen as far north as Queensland in Australia and northern auroras were noted as far south as Cuba.