The X-rays from solar flares can also affect our technology on the ground and in space. Plus, those of us on Earth are protected by its atmosphere, which shields us from such harmful rays of electromagnetic radiation. In comparison to high-energy particles from CMEs, the doses of X-rays from solar flares are not terribly damaging to living tissues. In the past, there have been wide-spread power outages resulting from geomagnetic storms, which were ultimately caused by the Sun's fury. If the CME was very intense, it can disturb the magnetosphere and induce electrical currents on Earth's surface, which can overload power grids. This current of electricity flowing into Earth's atmosphere causes the Northern and Southern Lights, also called the Aurora. Their energy is absorbed by Earth's magnetosphere, which can then rebound and accelerate charged matter within it toward Earth. These high-energy particles' effect on Earth is less severe. The astronauts would be located far outside the protection of Earth's shields, where the effect from a CME-driven shock wave can bombard them with as much radiation as 300,000 chest X-rays at once! It would take only 45,000 simultaneous chest x-rays to kill you. The greatest radiation danger would be to astronauts who participate in exploration of the Moon and Mars. Thus, we ground dwellers are pretty safe from their menace.Īstronauts in low-Earth orbit are mostly protected by the magnetosphere, but do receive higher doses of radiation than people on the ground, especially near the magnetic poles of Earth. These particles themselves are mostly deflected by Earth's sphere of magnetic influence - its magnetosphere - and the rest are almost all absorbed by the atmosphere. They travel more slowly than light and therefore arrive a few minutes later than electromagnetic radiation such as X-rays. High-energy-charged particles of matter released during a CME are sometimes directed toward Earth. Other satellites, such as WIND and ACE, study how solar storm explosions travel from the Sun to Earth and FAST, IMAGE, and Polar study the effects such activity has on Earth and its inhabitants.Ī CME is a huge bubble of gas threaded with magnetic field lines that are ejected from the Sun over the course of several hours. Missions such as SOHO, TRACE, GOES, and RHESSI monitor the Sun's activity. To better understand the processes that cause solar storms and space weather, NASA, in partnership with other national and international agencies, conducts space missions to study the Sun-Earth Connection. Energy is radiated away from these explosions in the form of X-rays, gamma rays, and high energy particles of matter. When this happens, plasma can be violently smashed down into the Sun's surface - a solar flare - or squirted out into interplanetary space - a coronal mass ejection (CME). Sometimes these loops become twisted or over-stretched, and they rapidly change back to simpler forms. The plasma in these magnetic loops is heated to the point that it gives off ultraviolet light. They are actually footprints of active regions where enormous loops of magnetic force trap plasma within them in the corona (atmosphere) of the Sun. Sunspots are locations on the Sun where extremely strong magnetic fields have cooled the hot plasma (electrically charged gas) to slightly less than that of the surrounding regions. However, the occasional dark blemishes on its face - sunspots - give hints of the dangers to us lurking above the surface in the unseen Sun. The Sun we observe every day appears constant and quiescent, dependably providing the planet with the energy necessary to maintain life. Solar Flares are powerful bursts of electromagnetic energy in the Sun's atmosphere.
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