An obvious indicator of the intensity of solar activity is the number and size of sunspots on the surface. Judging from many years of observations, the intensity of solar activity shows an obvious 11-year cycle. Since knowing this law in 1775, we are now in the 25th solar activity cycle , and it is still in the transition stage from the minimum period to the maximum period, and is expected to reach the peak in 2024-2025.
Sunspots are increasing rapidly
With the increase of sunspots, the strong solar wind , flares and coronal material eruptions are becoming more and more intense. A large number of charged particle streams are ejected from the surface of the sun into the deep space of the universe, including Some of them reached the earth. For a planet with a strong magnetic field like the Earth, when the high-energy particles from the sun approach the earth, they will be affected by the earth's magnetic field and collide strongly with them, triggering a powerful geomagnetic storm.
During such "storms", the Earth's magnetic field is compressed by high-energy particles. Most of the particles trickle along the magnetic field lines near the poles, stirring up molecules in the atmosphere and releasing energy in the form of light, creating waves in the night sky. A colorful aurora. When the density and intensity of solar particles are higher, some charged particles will directly penetrate the earth's magnetic field, directly affect the upper atmosphere, and even pass through the atmosphere to the ground, thus affecting low-Earth orbit satellites and ground communications. facilities and power transmission systems.
According to recent astronomical observation data, among the newly generated " sunspot group " on the surface of the sun, a sunspot named AR3038 is particularly conspicuous. In less than 24 hours from June 19 to June 20, its diameter suddenly increased from 22,000 kilometers to 32,000 kilometers, reaching 2.6 times the diameter of the earth . Its "cross section" The area has been directly expanded by 1 times!
According to the observation results of relevant organizations, the current position of AR3038 is just slightly north of the solar equator, and it is in the middle of the solar "disk" that is almost directly facing the earth. When viewed from the earth, this huge sunspot looks like It is "gazing" at the earth. If we can observe it closely on the surface of the sun at this time, the temperature of this sunspot is much lower than that of the surroundings, and its color is also quite "dark". Just like a deep eye, in this huge " Under the gaze of "eyes", we will definitely feel depressed and uneasy. It is predicted that due to the automatic action of the sun, this "eye" will "stare" at the earth for nearly a week or so, and then move to the other side of the sun.
The reason for the rapid increase of sunspots
As for how sunspots are formed, so far the scientific community has not reached a clear and unified conclusion. However, the mainstream view is that this is a phenomenon accompanying the process of nuclear fusion occurring inside the sun at all times.
As the internal material is continuously consumed in the thermonuclear reaction, the surrounding material continues to replenish the interior. When a part of the area moves inward significantly faster than the surrounding material, severe friction will occur, thus forming a tubular magnetic field structure. In this process, the density of matter in this part of the region becomes smaller, thereby gradually "floating" and transferring to the troposphere surface of the sun. Because this area has a strong magnetic field, it prevents internal energy from being transferred outward by convection, causing low temperatures in some areas of the sun's surface, and sunspots are produced.
Therefore, the formation mechanism of sunspots can be simply understood as the mechanism of generating a magnetic field inside the sun. The more sunspots and the larger the scale, it means that the intensity of nuclear fusion inside the sun has increased during this time, and the magnetic field has further strengthened and changed. , the activity on the sun's surface will become intense and complex accordingly, and the number and density of charged particle flows radiated from the sun's surface will also increase accordingly.
The generation of sunspots will also be accompanied by the radiation burst of solar flares , and at the same time produce the phenomenon of coronal mass ejections. These multiple manifestations of solar activity "come together" to form an "additive" effect. Therefore, the size of this sunspot doubled in less than 24 hours, indicating that the degree of nuclear fusion and magnetic field disturbance inside the sun is still showing a rapid growth trend in some areas. Since the intensity of solar activity will continue to increase in the next two to three years, similar rapid increases in sunspots should occur frequently. What impact will
have on the earth?
Scientists believe that the largest solar storm caused by solar activity in modern history was the Carrington event that occurred in 1859. It is speculated that the energy released at that time was equivalent to 10 billion 1-megaton atomic bombs The energy of is roughly the same. After this energy reached the earth, it directly destroyed the telegraph systems around the world at that time. Auroras brighter than the full moon appeared in the Caribbean Sea in the equatorial region. Since there were no artificial satellites in the sky at that time, there would definitely be losses if not Shocking.
If a similar incident happens today, it will not only cause power outages and paralysis of communication systems around the world, but also a large number of spacecraft and artificial satellites will be "destroyed."
Fortunately, according to scientists' predictions, although the recent growth of sunspots on the sun's surface has been very rapid, the scale of the associated flares is only M-level, and the highest level is X-level. M-level flares may This resulted in brief radio interruptions in areas near the Earth's poles, and also had a certain impact on the operation of some near-Earth satellites. The fall of the American Starlink satellite is the most typical representative.
