I have to say that the sun is indeed a bit wild this year. Repeated solar activities release powerful radiation, posing a threat to human equipment. On January 29 this year, an M-class flare erupted from the sun. Its powerful radiation caused the scrapping of 49 Starlink satellit

I have to say that the sun is indeed a bit violent this year. Repeated solar activities release powerful radiation, posing a threat to human equipment.

On January 29 this year, the sun erupted with an M-class flare . Its powerful radiation caused 49 Starlink satellites of Musk space X company to be scrapped, which shows its power.

In addition to flares, there is another type of solar activity that is worth noting, and that is sunspots . The appearance of these sunspots will also be accompanied by radiation attacks.

The so-called sunspots do appear to be relatively dark on the surface, but in fact it is only the lower temperature of the sun's surface that makes them appear darker in contrast to the surrounding environment. We know that the temperature of the sun's surface is about 5700°C, while the temperature of sunspots is only about 4000°C.

The generation of sunspots comes from the powerful magnetic field formed by the solar plasma, whose intensity reaches 10,000 times that of the earth's magnetic field . This strong magnetic field can inhibit the transfer of energy from the sun's interior to the outside through convection, thus lowering the local temperature. Sunspots do not appear alone, but are also accompanied by flares and coronal mass ejections, and the sunspots themselves often appear in groups.

Recently, a huge sunspot appeared on the surface of the sun. According to a website that specializes in tracking solar activity, geomagnetic storms, and various weather events from the universe, the name of this sunspot is AR3038.

started to expand rapidly on June 19th (Sunday) local time, and by June 20th (Monday), it doubled in size! According to observations, the diameter of this black hole reaches an astonishing 31,900 kilometers. 24 hours later, it expanded again, enough to fit 3 Earths side by side!

What’s even more frightening is that this sunspot also has a very unstable beta-gamma magnetic field, which is providing energy for an M-class flare. We have already seen the power of M-class flares. Moreover, the sun's rotation period is about 25 days, and this sunspot was facing the earth at that time.

So, do humans need to worry about this huge sunspot?

Scientists from the European Space Agency pointed out that although the growth rate of this sunspot is a bit alarming, we don’t need to worry too much. It is most likely to bring an M-class flare, which at most could cause some minor radiation storms and brief radio blackouts. After all, M-class flares are not the most powerful ones. There are X-class flares above them. The frequency of this highest-level flare is relatively much lower.

Moreover, sunspots also move with the rotation of the sun. When it was first discovered, it was located north of the sun's equator. In a few days, it will move to the other side of the sun.

Also, although its growth rate and size look amazing, for sunspots, it is just a "routine operation." AR3038 is not the largest sunspot at all. In 2003, an even more amazing sunspot appeared on the sun, which was enough to place a Jupiter (the diameter is 11.2 times that of the Earth)!

On the other hand, we cannot completely turn a blind eye to recent solar activity.

When a solar flare is aimed at the earth and "attacks", its strong X-rays and ultraviolet rays will ionize atoms in the earth's upper atmosphere, causing high-frequency radio waves to be unable to bounce here, thus triggering the so-called radio Power outage event. According to the severity of such power outages, scientists divide them into five levels: R1 to R5. According to reports, just in April and May this year, two solar flares caused R3 level radio blackouts over the Atlantic Ocean, Australia and Asia.

Not only that, the charged particles ejected by sunspots will also travel through the vast space to attack the earth, triggering powerful geomagnetic storms. The auroras that appear at the poles of our earth are actually the result of the interaction between these charged particles from the sun and the earth's upper atmosphere in the geomagnetic field lines near the poles.

Generally speaking, the speed of a flare is the speed of light, and it will arrive at the earth 8 minutes and 20 seconds after it is generated on the sun's surface.Correspondingly, the speed of coronal mass ejections is relatively slow, and it usually takes 15 to 18 hours to reach the earth.

If the solar activity is stronger, it will destroy human satellites like it did at the beginning of this year. Extreme geomagnetic storms may even cause the Internet to be paralyzed.

According to current records and scientific research, the most terrifying solar activity that humans have ever experienced was the Carrington Event in 1859. That morning, while observing the sun, a British astronomer named Richard Carrington discovered two extremely bright white lights among a large group of sunspots. Minutes later, the Greenwich Observatory in the UK detected dramatic changes in the strength of the geomagnetic field.

According to scientists' speculation, the energy released by this storm on the sun is equivalent to the simultaneous explosion of 10 billion atomic bombs of one million tons! Terrifying charged particles reach the earth's atmosphere, forming an aurora that is brighter than the full moon. The aurora can be seen as far south as the Caribbean Sea. Moreover, the telegraph system used by humans at that time was also attacked. Fortunately, humans did not have so many electronic and electrical equipment at that time. If it were changed today, the economic losses caused by the Carrington incident would probably be as high as trillions of dollars!

Also in 1989, a very strong storm erupted on the sun, releasing more than 1 billion tons of gas flow, causing widespread power outages throughout the Canadian province of Quebec.

We know that solar activity follows an 11-year cycle, and we are currently in the 25th cycle of solar activity. This cycle began in December 2019 and is expected to reach its maximum value in 2025. In other words, this solar cycle has not yet reached its strongest level. Just how violent the sun will be by mid-2025 is still unknown.

As for whether solar activity will kill life on earth, we don’t have to worry about this. At least in human history, there has been no similar event, and there is no theory to support that the sun can produce such terrifying radiation. Life on the surface is protected by the earth's magnetic field and atmosphere, and does not need to worry about the threat of solar activity.

However, will the astronauts who are far outside the earth's atmosphere be threatened without protection?

In fact, there is no need to worry about this at all. The orbital height of the space station is about 400 kilometers. Although it is out of the thick atmosphere, it is still protected by the earth's magnetic field. Moreover, the high-energy particles coming from solar radiation will be blocked by the outer shell of the space station. During this period, as long as the astronauts do not leave the cabin, there will be no safety issues.

There are even studies showing that due to an effect called Forbush descent, solar flares can dissipate cosmic radiation that really threatens the safety of astronauts. Maybe this is a good thing... #黑子# #solar activity# #sunspot#