Solar storm suddenly hits Earth

The solar storm struck Earth just before midnight on June 25 and continued throughout June 26. Scientists classified it as a G1 storm, meaning it was strong enough to cause weak power grid fluctuations, cause minor impacts on satellite operations, disrupt the navigation of some migratory animals, and cause unusually strong auroras.

Scientists predict that the unusual auroras could last until June 29. However, solar wind activity has now returned to normal.

The unexpected solar storm coincided with a five-planet alignment in the sky, an extremely rare event where Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn line up in the sky (something that hasn't happened since 1864).

Initially, scientists suspected a coronal mass ejection (CME) caused the terrifying storm — a large jet of plasma with embedded magnetic fields blasted out from a solar point — but they couldn't tell whether it happened on the Earth's surface or the far side of the Sun.

However, experts blame a much rarer co-rotating interaction region (CIR) of the sun. This is the transition zone between slow-moving and fast-moving solar wind streams. These regions create a buildup of plasma that can suddenly create shock waves similar to CMEs but without causing sunspots – making them much harder to detect on the sun’s surface.

The sudden solar storm hit Earth less than a week after a giant sunspot, known as AR3038, doubled in size over a 24-hour period and reached a maximum diameter of 2.5 times the size of Earth.

The giant sunspot sparked fears of a potentially damaging CME hitting our planet, but the spot eventually escaped Earth as the sun rotated. Scientists don’t know if the giant sunspot and the solar storm are related.

According to VTC