Strong Geomagnetic storm set to hit Earth on May 23; NOAA alert says | Tech News

Strong Geomagnetic storm set to hit Earth on May 23; NOAA alert says

A super-volatile Sun has spewed enormous amounts of energy out into space and NOAA has alerted about a geomagnetic storm that may hit Earth on May 23.

By: HT TECH
| Updated on: May 21 2023, 09:35 IST
Best NASA Astronomy Pictures of the Week: Geomagnetic storms, Tarantula Nebula and more
geomagnetic storm
1/5 The Medulla Nebula Supernova Remnant (April 24) - It is CTB-1, also known as the Medulla Nebula Supernova Remnant. It is a rare cosmic bubble and the remnant of an ancient supernova explosion that occurred about 10000 years ago, according to NASA. The Medulla Nebula Supernova Remnant is given the name because of its brain-like shape and is located towards the constellation of Cassiopeia. (NASA/Kimberly Sibbald)
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2/5 Geomagnetic Storm sparks Auroras (April 25) - Stunning auroras sparked by the G4-class geomagnetic storm were captured from Caceres, Spain. But it wasn’t just Spain where the auroras were visible. According to a report by spaceweather.com, the stunning streaks of light were seen lighting up the sky in Europe, in several parts of the U.S., New Zealand and as far as south of France.  (NASA/Landon Moeller)
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3/5 Full Moon shot through Arc de Triomphe (April 26) - This captured image is a fascinating snapshot of the full Moon through the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. The amount of Moon we see changes over the month, which is known as the lunar phases, and there are 8 in total - New Moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full Moon, waning gibbous, third quarter and waning crescent Moon. (Stefano Zanarello/NASA)
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4/5 The fascinating Tarantula Nebula (April 27) - is the 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula, located about 160,000 light-years away towards the constellation of Dorado. The 30 Doradus is also called the Tarantula Nebula because of its glowing filaments which resemble spider legs, according to NASA. The Nebula is special as it can be seen in the Southern sky with the naked eye. It resembles a large milky patch of stars when viewed from Earth. (NASA/SuperBIT)
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5/5 Runaway star Alpha Camelopardalis (April 28) - It is a snapshot of Alpha Camelopardalis, a runaway star located about 4,000 light-years away in the long-necked constellation Camelopardalis. According to NASA, this star is moving through space at a rapid speed of about 60 kilometers per second. In fact, this star is about 25-30 times the size of our Sun and over 500,000 times brighter! NASA has also revealed that Alpha Camelopardalis is 5 times hotter than our Sun, with a temperature of about 30,000 Kelvin. (NASA/Andre Vilhena)
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Is Earth in danger from the upcoming geomagnetic storm? NOAA explains. (Unsplash)

Just a few days back, a geomagnetic storm hit the Earth! A crack had opened in Earth's magnetic field on May 19th and sparked a G2-class geomagnetic storm. Resultantly, many northern-tier US states witnessed something remarkable - naked-eye auroras. This was probably a result caused by a near-miss CME that left the sun last week. And now, the fear is rising over a new solar flare! The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has alerted about the threat of a strong approaching solar flare. NOAA is using the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-16 (GOES-16) for the task.

The report by SpaceWeather.com has informed, "New sunspot AR3311 is crackling with strong M-class solar flares. There have been five eruptions so far today and one almost reached category X." The report further mentioned that each of these solar flares has caused a shortwave radio blackout with a significant loss of signal below 20 MHz.

NOAA ALERT!

NOAA has alerted in its report that radio blackouts reaching the R2 levels were observed over the past 24 hours. One of the largest recorded radio blackouts was recorded on May 20th 2023 12:35 UTC. Also, there are chances of S1 (Minor) solar radiation storms over the next two days from 21-23 May.

Due to this, R1-R2 (Minor-Moderate) radio blackouts are expected, with a chance for R3 (Strong) radio blackouts, due primarily to the flare potential from Region 3311, NOAA alerted. It is also expected to spark a G1-class geomagnetic storm late on 23 May.

Tech behind the solar flare observations

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-16 (GOES-16) is operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It helps in sensing, solar imaging, and space environment measurement payloads. GOES-16 has provided continuous imagery and atmospheric measurements of Earth's Western Hemisphere, total lightning data, and space weather monitoring, providing critical atmospheric, hydrologic, oceanic, climatic, solar, and space data.

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First Published Date: 21 May, 09:34 IST
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