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Solar Storms Increasing Through 2013

1,217 views · Published 1 December 2011 · 4:17 · Indexed 26 September 2026

Channel: Qronos16 · 2011 · Science & Technology

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For thousands of years people have been watching the sun. With the invention of the telescope, scientists have been recording the number of spots they see forming on the sun's surface. Sunspots are believed to be the source of solar storms.

According to Matt Penn, an associate astronomer at the National Solar Observatory located here in Tucson, "On the Sun we have sunspots with huge magnetic fields and they're the source of two things that effect us on Earth...Solar flares and also Coronal Mass Ejections. So a Solar flare happens when the magnetic field within these sunspots changes and erupts with light and particles, a CME, a coronal mass ejection happens when an enormous amount of mass is thrown off from again a change in a magnetic field of a sunspot."

Not all solar storms effect the Earth. Many times this matter is hurled into space and never encounters the Earth. The Earth is exposed to solar flares and CMEs from time to time, causing some dramatic effects.

Penn says, "The effects on Earth are really dramatic, and in particular, the more we depend on space assets, satellites for communication or navigation or even high altitude flights, the more of an impact it will have on us on the Earth. For instance, the particles from a solar flare can disrupt the electronics in a satellite and cause dropouts in communication so if you are using your GPS device and the GPS satellite goes out, than you're lost and stuck without navigation."

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