Are solar storms dangerous to us?
Are storms on the sun dangerous to humans on Earth?
The sun’s activity waxes and wanes on an 11-year cycle. So when we approach another peak in activity, the sun isn’t doing anything it hasn’t done many millions of times before. The difference is that now we have technology that can be affected by the sun’s activity.
The most powerful solar storms happen a few times each year when the sun is active. These storms send charged particles into space. As the charged particles slam into Earth’s atmosphere, they can disrupt satellites, bathe high-flying airplanes with radiation and black out entire cities. Fortunately scientists are learning to predict these ejections. For example, there are S-shaped twists of plasma on the sun, now thought to be early warning signs of solar storms. When one appears, a solar storm will probably take place in a few days.
But it takes four more days for the charged particles to reach Earth. So satellites can briefly shut their systems off. Earth-based power grids can be reconfigured to provide extra grounding, and so on.
Solar storms do present a hazard for astronauts in space. Astronauts planning a space walk need to stay indoors until the danger passes.
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