Vecna and his goons were able to escape from the Upside Down on Thursday when a hole appeared in the Earth’s magnetic field and remained there for about 14 hours. Okay, maybe not that last part, but it did let some strong solar winds through the hole, sparking a geomagnetic storm that produced some truly spectacular aurora.
A co-rotating interaction region (CIR) from the Sun, an uncommon occurrence, caused the crack in the magnet field. When fast and slow-moving streams of solar wind interact, large-scale plasma structures called CIRs are created in the heliosphere’s low and mid-latitude regions, which surround the Sun and contain its magnetic field and solar winds.
Similar to coronal mass ejections (CMEs), coronal incandescence regions (CIRs) are hurled out from the Sun towards Earth. They can contain shockwaves and compressed magnetic fields that lead to turbulent space weather, which typically manifests itself as beautiful aurorae.
This one made contact with the magnetic field of Earth early on July 7 and generated a persistent G1-class geomagnetic storm. According to Spaceweather.com, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) experts believe a CME was imbedded in the solar wind prior to the CIR.
There is no need to be alarmed; magnetic field breaks are common. We are shielded from solar storms that the Sun spews forth by the magnetic field. Though it was believed that they opened and closed rather rapidly, we now know that they can remain open for several hours.
According to Harald Frey, the study’s principal author, “We’ve found that our magnetic barrier is drafty, like a house with a window left open in a storm.”
“The couch is damaged, but the home largely avoids the storm. Similar to how our magnetic shield deflects most of the energy from space storms, it occasionally allows enough energy to interfere with electrical networks, radio communications, and satellites.”
There doesn’t seem to have been any radio blackouts or power outages this time but we have been treated to some gorgeous northern lights across Canada and the US.
The Sun is already unusually active relatively early as it approaches the solar cycle’s most active time (July 2025). The likelihood of seeing an aurora is now rather strong, but over the following three years, it will only get better and better.
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