Using the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), researchers have measured two massive so-called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), some of which are heading toward Earth as solar storms. One of the two is class X (which is the highest intensity) and comes from a sunspot called AR3354, which is seven times the size of our Earth.
According to NASA scientists, the CME “double blast” could hit Earth Friday afternoon or evening, where the charged particles could create disturbances in what’s known as the magnetosphere, our planet’s magnetic field called geomagnetic storms.
GPS errors possible in North America
According to the assessment of the US space agency NASA, the degradation of various satellite services – including GPS – is to be expected anyway. The reason: The operators switch the systems into a protection mode when a solar storm approaches so that the satellites’ electronics don’t activate when the solar particles induce their energy into them.
The strongest effects of the solar storms are expected in western North America and several Pacific regions. Interference can also occur in the power grid and in radio transmissions on the ground. Little should be felt in Europe.
SOHO has been orbiting the sun since 1995
The European-American SOHO telescope has been orbiting in space for nearly 28 years and is still the flagship solar probe. Built by a consortium for the space agencies ESA and NASA, the observatory was launched into space in November 1995 aboard an Atlas II rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, reaching its position two months later.
Controlled by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, the observatory orbits the sun 1.5 million miles from Earth’s orbit. The probe, which weighs about 660 kilograms, is permanently located between Earth and our central star.
Source: Krone
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