According to the Space Weather Observers Solar flares are heading towards Earth and are expected to strike Earth’s magnetic field sooner.
According to the observers, solar flares erupted from giant sunspots are expected to come parallel to the Earth in the next few days. The observers said that solar flares will cause geomagnetic storms and auroras in the northern altitude.
The year 2012 is expected to produce some large solar flares not because of Maya Calendar or life on Earth is coming to an end but because of the regular solar cycle which will be at its peak this year.
Solar flares are produced from the black spot on the sun’s surface, where the electromagnetic field is at its peak. The black spot also called sunspot ejects huge amount of energy also known as solar flares or solar winds.
The latest solar eruption took place on Monday sending huge amount of charged particles towards the Earth. Last month too, a massive solar flare was produced through the sun but fortunately it wasn’t directed towards the Earth.
Group of Sunspot
Observers have noticed a group of large sunspots on sun in the weekend. The sunspots are 100,000km wide and there is further scope of more such solar flares. The place where these massive sunspots are noticed is known as region ‘1476’.
The spots are so huge that they are easily visible through a naked eye. Astronomers have warned for not looking at the sun directly as it may lead to serious eye injury.
Dangers of solar flares
Solar flares are very dangerous to Earth, especially when we are enormously dependent on electronic appliances and computers. A massive solar flare can easily destroy our satellite system orbiting the Earth, which are our lifeline. As communication and military operations are dependent on it.
A large solar flare can destroy over power grids and shut down all the electronic systems in a blink of an eye. Our ozone layer too can easily be washed away with it, and we will then become susceptible to diseases like Skin Cancer. Some flares are so strong that they can also rupture the magnetic fields of a planet.
Sun has been shooting moderate and low solar flares from past few months and the intensity of it is expected to increase in the coming months.