New Northern Lights are about to arrive in France? This is what the latest scientific reports which monitor the activity of the Sun suggest. The daylight has experienced new impressive eruptions in recent hours. These solar storms are immense pockets of incandescent gas that break away from the star. They then cross space until they encounter a Source of resistance, such as a planet.
The Earth would also be in the path of a rather significant solar storm. The latter could reach us next week. The passage of this very powerful electromagnetic field could ionize the air at the poles, creating the northern lights.
NOAA on alert
As for NOAA, the equivalent of Météo France in the United States, everyone is on alert. Last Monday, a large storm was detected. It has at its heart the AR3664 solar task. It is already from this precise point that the most powerful storm of the last 20 years escaped last month.
During this previous eruption, scientists classified the solar storm as X1.1. This classification makes it possible to list solar flares from the least powerful (B) to the strongest (X). The next flare, which left the Sun last Monday, is classified as X 2.8. It would therefore be even more powerful than that of mid-May.
Very bad news for our technologies
If the passage of a solar storm on Earth has no direct consequence for our health (thanks to the Earth’s magnetic field which protects us), this is not the case for our satellites and all objects very sensitive to electro-magnetic disturbances.
Thus the passage of a solar storm can fail many satellites, but also power plants, radio antennas or magnetic systems. According to Ryan French, solar physicist at the National Solar Observatory, the latest solar flare ejected large quantities of solar masses. If it is not expected to hit Earth immediately, the passage of such an eruption near our planet risks causing damage in orbit.
The Sun is in great shape
The increase in solar activity in recent months is not exceptional. In fact, scientists had even predicted since 2003 that the Sun’s activity was going to be very significant this year. And for good reason, the life cycle of our star is not linear. On the contrary, it experiences ups and downs, approximately every 11 years.
In 2024, solar activity reaches its maximum, the end of a cycle of more than a decade. Other solar storms could therefore still hit the Earth, before all this calms down in the years to come.
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