Solar flares are created from ‘sun spots’ when they erupt. They pose no direct threat to Earth but they can cause major disruptions, here’s how.
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Potential disruptions
According to MailOnline, the sun will eject a ‘cannibal’ of energetic and highly magnetized, superheated gas. This ejection of gas has a 10% chance of creating X-class flares which can cause radio communication blackouts and completely disrupt GPS systems.
The flares are known as coronal mass ejection (CME), which came from the sunspot AR3078 on August 15. According to space.com, a 'cannibal' sunspot is defined as:
CME cannibalization occurs when the sun launches two eruptions within a short period of time, with the second of the two being more energetic, and therefore faster than the first.
Since it merged with another sunspot, it is now a ‘mish-mash of the two with tangled magnetic fields and compressed plasma’ meaning it could create ‘strong geomagnetic storms.’
Russian EVA 54 is underway.
— Mike (@SpaceWxMike) August 17, 2022
The hatch opened at ~1353UTC. We'll continue to monitor any additional Solar Flares but the primary focus is on any Solar Energetic Particle events that may (keyword) occur alongside a flare. So far all good, no impact to operations! https://t.co/iIBrPufDHX
When will they hit?
The solar flares are predicted to affect Earth on August 18. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) experts have predicted G1 - minor - and G2-class - moderate - geomagnetic storms.
As reported by MailOnline space weather forecaster predicted a ‘30% chance the shockwaves could result in M-class flares - medium-sized events that cause brief radio blackouts.’
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