Giant blob of solar plasma could 'graze' Earth this weekend, NOAA says

By Brandon Specktor published 1 day ago

If the solar storm hits Earth, it could drive the aurora much further south than usual.



NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory caught an image of a mid-level solar flare emitted by the sun on Oct. 1, 2015. (Image credit: NASA/SDO)


A weak solar storm could brush past Earth on Saturday (May 7), potentially leading to minor radio blackouts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported in a new space weather forecast.

Continuing a months-long spate of heightened activity, the sun is currently crackling with powerful solar flares, which are often accompanied by giant explosions of plasma known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). When CMEs pass over Earth, they can temporarily compress our planet's magnetic shield, resulting in geomagnetic storms that can knock out power grids, muddle radio waves and damage satellites in their path.

The vast majority of geomagnetic storms are mild, according to NOAA. But the largest CMEs can trigger much more devastating storms — such as the infamous 1859 Carrington Event, which induced such strong electrical currents that telegraph equipment burst into flame, according to NASA. Some scientists have warned that another solar storm of that magnitude could plunge Earth into an "internet apocalypse," knocking nations offline for weeks or months, Live Science previously reported.

There is a small chance that a small CME could "graze Earth's magnetosphere" on Saturday, NOAA said in their latest report, resulting in a G1-class geomagnetic storm — the weakest class of storm on NOAA's five-level scale. When a G1 storm hits, weak power grid fluctuations can occur, and the aurora — a phenomenon caused by charged particles in solar wind colliding with molecules in Earth's atmosphere — can be seen at lower latitudes than usual. CMEs typically take 15 to 18 hours to reach Earth after they leave the sun.

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