The Sun is "shivering" with a magnetic pole reversal

(NLDO) - According to NASA, the period when the Earth is most susceptible to flares and fireballs from the Sun will last until next year.

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have just confirmed that the Sun has entered the maximum phase of its 25th cycle, the period when it will regularly launch the most flares and fireballs at Earth and surrounding planets.

This period, characterized by increased magnetic activity, is likely to continue into next year.

The Sun's current "explosion" is completely different from its quiet period - Photo: NASA

According to SciTech Daily, our Sun has an 11-year activity cycle, oscillating between periods of low and high magnetic activity.

During peak phases like the current one, the Sun will undergo a magnetic pole reversal: the North Pole becomes the South Pole and vice versa.

This is felt from the Earth through continuous and strong geomagnetic storms. Recently, the Earth has been hit by very strong geomagnetic storms.

The climax was in May 2024, when a series of flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) created the strongest geomagnetic storm on Earth in two decades and possibly the most spectacular aurora display in five centuries.

However, Elsayed Talaat, director of space weather operations at NOAA, explained that the agency and NASA's announcement does not mean that this is the peak of solar activity we will see this cycle.

It is very possible that in the coming months or years, the Sun will erupt even more violently.

But with the technological development of modern people, it will strongly affect many things, requiring Earthlings to be prepared.

In early September 1859, the global electric and telegraph grid was severely damaged by the Carrington event, one of the most powerful geomagnetic storms ever experienced by humanity.

Today we no longer use telegraphs and have much better means of protecting the power grid.

Yet we have invented countless other things that can be affected by geomagnetic storms: positioning technology, radio, satellites, spacecraft...

For ordinary people, brief glitches caused by geomagnetic storms usually have no impact on daily life. But space agencies take space weather forecasting very seriously.

For example, space weather forecasting is critical to supporting spacecraft and astronauts in NASA's Artemis campaign.

Surveying this space environment is an important part of understanding and minimizing astronaut exposure to cosmic radiation.

Additionally, predicting potential geomagnetic storms also helps the space industry's plans not be derailed: In 2022, SpaceX suffered serious damage when about 40 Starlink satellites that had just been launched were sent crashing back to Earth by a geomagnetic storm.

Scientists predict that the solar maximum will last another year before the Sun enters a period of decline, leading to solar minimum.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/nasa-mat-troi-dang-rung-minh-dao-nguoc-cuc-tu-196241017095029596.htm